ABSTRACT
During the period 1988-1991, 23 patients with prostatic carcinoma were treated by transperineal iodine seed implantation guided by transrectal ultrasound. We introduce a refinement of the implantation technique using a rigid column of seeds and spacers. The uniformity parameter based on the peak width of the natural volume-dose histogram demonstrated quantitatively that this refinement resulted in a more accurate seed arrangement.
Subject(s)
Brachytherapy/methods , Iodine Radioisotopes/therapeutic use , Prostatic Neoplasms/radiotherapy , Humans , Iodine Radioisotopes/administration & dosage , Male , Perineum , Prostatic Neoplasms/diagnostic imaging , Prostatic Neoplasms/epidemiology , Retrospective Studies , UltrasonographyABSTRACT
In the Deventer Radiotherapeutic Institute from January 1981 through December 1989, 359 patients who had undergone a breast-saving operation were irradiated. Since 1987, iridium guiding needles were introduced peroperatively in 79 of these patients. Subsequently, irradiation was administered. With this method the total duration of treatment was 16 days shorter on average than in patients who postoperatively were treated with iridium or external irradiation; also, the patients treated peroperatively needed only to be anaesthetized once. In addition, better positioning of the needles was possible, reducing the risk of faulty localization. The follow-up was short but the preliminary results of the treatment were good (one local recurrence after an average follow-up of 20 months) and no adverse effect on wound healing was seen.
Subject(s)
Brachytherapy/methods , Breast Neoplasms/radiotherapy , Mastectomy, Segmental , Adolescent , Adult , Breast Neoplasms/surgery , Combined Modality Therapy , Female , Humans , Intraoperative Period , Iridium/administration & dosage , Middle Aged , Radiotherapy DosageABSTRACT
During the period 1985-1986, 10 patients with lesions of the floor of the mouth or of the mobile part of the tongue were treated by interstitial curietherapie with iridium-192. In the patients treated with the looping technique essential differences were found between the predicted source configuration and that actually achieved, resulting in a disagreement between precalculated and actual dose distribution. To avoid this undesirable situation, a simple oral cavity applicator was constructed which guarantees parallelism and equidistance between the implanted needles. It was found that the use of this applicator resulted in an almost complete agreement between forecast and actual dose distribution.
Subject(s)
Brachytherapy , Iridium Radioisotopes/therapeutic use , Mouth Neoplasms/radiotherapy , Tongue Neoplasms/radiotherapy , Brachytherapy/instrumentation , Humans , Mouth Floor , Radiotherapy DosageABSTRACT
The radiation dosage in the base of the bladder and in the anterior wall of the rectum during intracavitary irradiation of cervix carcinoma can be determined easily by use of intracavitary transvesical and transrectal ultrasound and simultaneous radiography. In case of excessive doses to the organs at risk, the dose can be lowered by rearrangement of the vaginal gauze packing in the same sitting.
Subject(s)
Brachytherapy/methods , Carcinoma/radiotherapy , Radiation Monitoring/methods , Rectum/radiation effects , Urinary Bladder/radiation effects , Uterine Cervical Neoplasms/radiotherapy , Female , Humans , Radiotherapy Dosage , UltrasonographyABSTRACT
The influence of taking into account the lung density in the calculation of the dose distributions was examined for a group of 23 patients with bronchus carcinoma. Anatomical information and electron densities were available by means of CT scans. All calculations were made for cobalt-60 gamma rays using a patient specific multiple field irradiation technique. The effect of lung tissues for the dose distributions was calculated using a generalization of Batho's method. All patients entered into this study were planned to receive a minimum tumor dose of 60 Gy, calculated without correction for lung density. The actual dose in each patient was recalculated with lung correction. In the group of patients the corrected minimum tumor dose varied between 63 Gy and 77 Gy (105-128%). The calculated homogeneity of the dose in the target area and the dose to surrounding normal tissues are also affected by lung correction. For different radiation techniques and different methods of dose specification, the interrelation between corrected and uncorrected dose is presented in tables. The impact of lung correction on the uncorrected dose schedules that are commonly used in the treatment of patients with lung cancer is discussed.
Subject(s)
Carcinoma, Bronchogenic/radiotherapy , Lung Neoplasms/radiotherapy , Radiotherapy Dosage , Cobalt Radioisotopes/therapeutic use , Humans , Patient Care Planning , Radioisotope Teletherapy , Radiotherapy, High-EnergyABSTRACT
Fifty-five patients with adenocarcinoma of the prostate were treated with external beam irradiation. In 31 of them conventional localization was used and in 24 computerized tomography was used in the localization of the treatment volume. In these 24 patients we see a larger treatment volume with a wider distribution. This method would appear to be superior to the use of standard irradiation fields. The larger treatment volume did not increase morbidity.
