ABSTRACT
Ionizing radiation acoustic imaging (iRAI) allows online monitoring of radiation's interactions with tissues during radiation therapy, providing real-time, adaptive feedback for cancer treatments. We describe an iRAI volumetric imaging system that enables mapping of the three-dimensional (3D) radiation dose distribution in a complex clinical radiotherapy treatment. The method relies on a two-dimensional matrix array transducer and a matching multi-channel preamplifier board. The feasibility of imaging temporal 3D dose accumulation was first validated in a tissue-mimicking phantom. Next, semiquantitative iRAI relative dose measurements were verified in vivo in a rabbit model. Finally, real-time visualization of the 3D radiation dose delivered to a patient with liver metastases was accomplished with a clinical linear accelerator. These studies demonstrate the potential of iRAI to monitor and quantify the 3D radiation dose deposition during treatment, potentially improving radiotherapy treatment efficacy using real-time adaptive treatment.
Subject(s)
Neoplasms , Radiotherapy Planning, Computer-Assisted , Rabbits , Animals , Radiotherapy Planning, Computer-Assisted/methods , Diagnostic Imaging , Liver/diagnostic imaging , Radiation Dosage , Neoplasms/diagnostic imaging , Neoplasms/radiotherapyABSTRACT
The outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease, COVID-19 turned into a global pandemic in March 2020. During these unprecedented times, there is an increased demand in medical and personal protective equipment (PPE). Since the supplies may take a long time to meet the global demand, reusing PPEs will help health care workers in their response to the COVID-19 pandemic. To ensure the safety and well-being of the medical first responders, PPE needs to be sterilized before reuse. In this review, we examine various sterilization techniques that can be used to sterilize PPEs and point out its limitations. The objective is to provide a foundation of knowledge incorporating different sterilization techniques that allow hospitals and clinics to pick the most suitable technique for sterilization of a particular PPE.
