Pub Date : 2023-05-22DOI: 10.1016/j.zemedi.2023.03.005
Severin Kampfer, Sophie Dobiasch, Stephanie E Combs, Jan J Wilkens
In human radiotherapy a safety margin (PTV margin) is essential for successful irradiation and is usually part of clinical treatment planning. In preclinical radiotherapy research with small animals, most uncertainties and inaccuracies are present as well, but according to the literature a margin is used only scarcely. In addition, there is only little experience about the appropriate size of the margin, which should carefully be investigated and considered, since sparing of organs at risk or normal tissue is affected. Here we estimate the needed margin for preclinical irradiation by adapting a well-known human margin recipe from van Herck et al. to the dimensions and requirements of the specimen on a small animal radiation research platform (SARRP). We adjusted the factors of the described formula to the specific challenges in an orthotopic pancreatic tumor mouse model to establish an appropriate margin concept. The SARRP was used with its image-guidance irradiation possibility for arc irradiation with a field size of 10 × 10 mm2 for 5 fractions. Our goal was to irradiate the clinical target volume (CTV) of at least 90% of our mice with at least 95% of the prescribed dose. By carefully analyzing all relevant factors we gain a CTV to planning target volume (PTV) margin of 1.5 mm for our preclinical setup. The stated safety margin is strongly dependent on the exact setting of the experiment and has to be adjusted for other experimental settings. The few stated values in literature correspond well to our result. Even if using margins in the preclinical setting might be an additional challenge, we think it is crucial to use them to produce reliable results and improve the efficacy of radiotherapy.
{"title":"Development of a PTV margin for preclinical irradiation of orthotopic pancreatic tumors derived from a well-known recipe for humans.","authors":"Severin Kampfer, Sophie Dobiasch, Stephanie E Combs, Jan J Wilkens","doi":"10.1016/j.zemedi.2023.03.005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.zemedi.2023.03.005","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In human radiotherapy a safety margin (PTV margin) is essential for successful irradiation and is usually part of clinical treatment planning. In preclinical radiotherapy research with small animals, most uncertainties and inaccuracies are present as well, but according to the literature a margin is used only scarcely. In addition, there is only little experience about the appropriate size of the margin, which should carefully be investigated and considered, since sparing of organs at risk or normal tissue is affected. Here we estimate the needed margin for preclinical irradiation by adapting a well-known human margin recipe from van Herck et al. to the dimensions and requirements of the specimen on a small animal radiation research platform (SARRP). We adjusted the factors of the described formula to the specific challenges in an orthotopic pancreatic tumor mouse model to establish an appropriate margin concept. The SARRP was used with its image-guidance irradiation possibility for arc irradiation with a field size of 10 × 10 mm<sup>2</sup> for 5 fractions. Our goal was to irradiate the clinical target volume (CTV) of at least 90% of our mice with at least 95% of the prescribed dose. By carefully analyzing all relevant factors we gain a CTV to planning target volume (PTV) margin of 1.5 mm for our preclinical setup. The stated safety margin is strongly dependent on the exact setting of the experiment and has to be adjusted for other experimental settings. The few stated values in literature correspond well to our result. Even if using margins in the preclinical setting might be an additional challenge, we think it is crucial to use them to produce reliable results and improve the efficacy of radiotherapy.</p>","PeriodicalId":54397,"journal":{"name":"Zeitschrift fur Medizinische Physik","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9516757","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-05-05DOI: 10.1016/j.zemedi.2023.04.004
Stefan Dorsch, Katharina Paul, Cedric Beyer, Christian P Karger, Oliver Jäkel, Jürgen Debus, Sebastian Klüter
Purpose: To describe performance measurements, adaptations and time stability over 20 months of a diagnostic MR scanner for integration into MR-guided photon and particle radiotherapy.
Material and methods: For realization of MR-guided photon and particle therapy (MRgRT/MRgPT), a 1.5 T MR scanner was installed at the Heidelberg Ion Beam Therapy Center. To integrate MRI into the treatment process, a flat tabletop and dedicated coil holders for flex coils were used, which prevent deformation of the patient external contour and allow for the use of immobilization tools for reproducible positioning. The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) was compared for the diagnostic and therapy-specific setup using the flat couch top and flexible coils for the a) head & neck and b) abdominal region as well as for different bandwidths and clinical pulse sequences. Additionally, a quality assurance (QA) protocol with monthly measurements of the ACR phantom and measurement of geometric distortions for a large field-of-view (FOV) was implemented to assess the imaging quality parameters of the device over the course of 20 months.
Results: The SNR measurements showed a decreased SNR for the RT-specific as compared to the diagnostic setup of (a) 26% to 34% and (b) 11% to 33%. No significant bandwidth dependency for this ratio was found. The longitudinal assessment of the image quality parameters with the ACR and distortion phantom confirmed the long-term stability of the MRI device.
Conclusion: A diagnostic MRI was commissioned for use in MR-guided particle therapy. Using a radiotherapy specific setup, a high geometric accuracy and signal homogeneity was obtained after some adaptions and the measured parameters were shown to be stable over a period of 20 months.
{"title":"Quality assurance and temporal stability of a 1.5 T MRI scanner for MR-guided Photon and Particle Therapy.","authors":"Stefan Dorsch, Katharina Paul, Cedric Beyer, Christian P Karger, Oliver Jäkel, Jürgen Debus, Sebastian Klüter","doi":"10.1016/j.zemedi.2023.04.004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.zemedi.2023.04.004","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>To describe performance measurements, adaptations and time stability over 20 months of a diagnostic MR scanner for integration into MR-guided photon and particle radiotherapy.</p><p><strong>Material and methods: </strong>For realization of MR-guided photon and particle therapy (MRgRT/MRgPT), a 1.5 T MR scanner was installed at the Heidelberg Ion Beam Therapy Center. To integrate MRI into the treatment process, a flat tabletop and dedicated coil holders for flex coils were used, which prevent deformation of the patient external contour and allow for the use of immobilization tools for reproducible positioning. The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) was compared for the diagnostic and therapy-specific setup using the flat couch top and flexible coils for the a) head & neck and b) abdominal region as well as for different bandwidths and clinical pulse sequences. Additionally, a quality assurance (QA) protocol with monthly measurements of the ACR phantom and measurement of geometric distortions for a large field-of-view (FOV) was implemented to assess the imaging quality parameters of the device over the course of 20 months.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The SNR measurements showed a decreased SNR for the RT-specific as compared to the diagnostic setup of (a) 26% to 34% and (b) 11% to 33%. No significant bandwidth dependency for this ratio was found. The longitudinal assessment of the image quality parameters with the ACR and distortion phantom confirmed the long-term stability of the MRI device.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>A diagnostic MRI was commissioned for use in MR-guided particle therapy. Using a radiotherapy specific setup, a high geometric accuracy and signal homogeneity was obtained after some adaptions and the measured parameters were shown to be stable over a period of 20 months.</p>","PeriodicalId":54397,"journal":{"name":"Zeitschrift fur Medizinische Physik","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9480351","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-05-05DOI: 10.1016/j.zemedi.2023.03.004
Frédéric A Miéville, Nicolas Pitteloud, Vérane Achard, Giorgio Lamanna, Olivier Pisaturo, Pierre-Alain Tercier, Abdelkarim S Allal
Purpose: To determine 10 MV IMRT and VMAT based protocols with a daily bolus targeting a skin dose of 45 Gy in order to replace the 6 MV tangential fields with a 5 mm thick bolus on alternate days method for post-mastectomy radiotherapy.
Method: We measured the mean surface dose along the chest wall PTV as a function of different bolus thicknesses for sliding window IMRT and VMAT plans. We analyzed surface dose profiles and dose homogeneities and compared them to our standard 6 MV strategy. All measurements were performed on a thorax phantom with Gafchromic films while dosimetric plans were computed using the Acuros XB algorithm (Varian).
Results: We obtained the best compromise between measured surface dose (mean dose and homogeneity) and skin toxicity threshold obtained from the literature using a daily 3 mm thick bolus. Mean surface doses were 91.4 ± 2.8% [85.7% - 95.4%] and 92.2 ± 2.3% [85.6% - 95.2%] of the prescribed dose with IMRT and VMAT techniques, respectively. Our standard 6 MV alternate days 5 mm thick bolus leads to 89.0 ± 3.7% [83.6% - 95.5%]. Mean dose differences between measured and TPS results were < 3.2% for depths as low as 2 mm depth.
Conclusion: 10 MV IMRT-based protocols with a daily 3 mm thick bolus produce a surface dose comparable to the standard 6 MV 5 mm thick bolus on alternate days method but with an improved surface dose homogeneity. This allows for a better control of skin toxicity and target volume coverage.
{"title":"Post-mastectomy radiotherapy: Impact of bolus thickness and irradiation technique on skin dose.","authors":"Frédéric A Miéville, Nicolas Pitteloud, Vérane Achard, Giorgio Lamanna, Olivier Pisaturo, Pierre-Alain Tercier, Abdelkarim S Allal","doi":"10.1016/j.zemedi.2023.03.004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.zemedi.2023.03.004","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>To determine 10 MV IMRT and VMAT based protocols with a daily bolus targeting a skin dose of 45 Gy in order to replace the 6 MV tangential fields with a 5 mm thick bolus on alternate days method for post-mastectomy radiotherapy.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>We measured the mean surface dose along the chest wall PTV as a function of different bolus thicknesses for sliding window IMRT and VMAT plans. We analyzed surface dose profiles and dose homogeneities and compared them to our standard 6 MV strategy. All measurements were performed on a thorax phantom with Gafchromic films while dosimetric plans were computed using the Acuros XB algorithm (Varian).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>We obtained the best compromise between measured surface dose (mean dose and homogeneity) and skin toxicity threshold obtained from the literature using a daily 3 mm thick bolus. Mean surface doses were 91.4 ± 2.8% [85.7% - 95.4%] and 92.2 ± 2.3% [85.6% - 95.2%] of the prescribed dose with IMRT and VMAT techniques, respectively. Our standard 6 MV alternate days 5 mm thick bolus leads to 89.0 ± 3.7% [83.6% - 95.5%]. Mean dose differences between measured and TPS results were < 3.2% for depths as low as 2 mm depth.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>10 MV IMRT-based protocols with a daily 3 mm thick bolus produce a surface dose comparable to the standard 6 MV 5 mm thick bolus on alternate days method but with an improved surface dose homogeneity. This allows for a better control of skin toxicity and target volume coverage.</p>","PeriodicalId":54397,"journal":{"name":"Zeitschrift fur Medizinische Physik","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9480352","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-05-01DOI: 10.1016/j.zemedi.2022.05.002
Sepideh Hatamikia , Gunpreet Oberoi , Anna Zacher , Gernot Kronreif , Wolfgang Birkfellner , Joachim Kettenbach , Stefanie Ponti , Andrea Lorenz , Martin Buschmann , Laszlo Jaksa , Nikolaus Irnstorfer , Ewald Unger
Objectives
To develop and validate a simple approach for building cost-effective imaging phantoms for Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) using a modified Polyjet additive manufacturing technology where a single material can mimic a range of human soft-tissue radiation attenuation.
Materials and Methods
Single material test phantoms using a cubic lattice were designed in 3-Matic 15.0 software . Keeping the individual cubic lattice volume constant, eight different percentage ratio (R) of air: material from 0% to 70% with a 10% increment were assigned to each sample. The phantoms were printed in three materials, namely Vero PureWhite, VeroClear and TangoPlus using Polyjet technology. The CT value analysis, non-contact profile measurement and microCT-based volumetric analysis was performed for all the samples.
Results
The printed test phantoms produced a grey value spectrum equivalent to the radiation attenuation of human soft tissues in the range of −757 to +286 HU on CT. The results from dimensional comparison analysis of the printed phantoms with the digital test phantoms using non-contact profile measurement showed a mean accuracy of 99.07 % and that of micro-CT volumetric analysis showed mean volumetric accuracy of 84.80–94.91%. The material and printing costs of developing 24 test phantoms was 83.00 Euro.
Conclusions
The study shows that additive manufacturing-guided macrostructure manipulation modifies successfully the radiographic visibility of a material in CBCT imaging with 1 mm3 resolution, helping customization of imaging phantoms.
{"title":"Additively manufactured test phantoms for mimicking soft tissue radiation attenuation in CBCT using Polyjet technology","authors":"Sepideh Hatamikia , Gunpreet Oberoi , Anna Zacher , Gernot Kronreif , Wolfgang Birkfellner , Joachim Kettenbach , Stefanie Ponti , Andrea Lorenz , Martin Buschmann , Laszlo Jaksa , Nikolaus Irnstorfer , Ewald Unger","doi":"10.1016/j.zemedi.2022.05.002","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.zemedi.2022.05.002","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Objectives</h3><p>To develop and validate a simple approach for building cost-effective imaging phantoms for Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) using a modified Polyjet additive manufacturing technology where a single material can mimic a range of human soft-tissue radiation attenuation.</p></div><div><h3>Materials and Methods</h3><p>Single material test phantoms using a cubic lattice were designed in 3-Matic 15.0 software . Keeping the individual cubic lattice volume constant, eight different percentage ratio (R) of air: material from 0% to 70% with a 10% increment were assigned to each sample. The phantoms were printed in three materials, namely Vero PureWhite, VeroClear and TangoPlus using Polyjet technology. The CT value analysis, non-contact profile measurement and microCT-based volumetric analysis was performed for all the samples.</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>The printed test phantoms produced a grey value spectrum equivalent to the radiation attenuation of human soft tissues in the range of −757 to +286 HU on CT. The results from dimensional comparison analysis of the printed phantoms with the digital test phantoms using non-contact profile measurement showed a mean accuracy of 99.07 % and that of micro-CT volumetric analysis showed mean volumetric accuracy of 84.80–94.91%. The material and printing costs of developing 24 test phantoms was 83.00 Euro.</p></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>The study shows that additive manufacturing-guided macrostructure manipulation modifies successfully the radiographic visibility of a material in CBCT imaging with 1 mm<sup>3</sup> resolution, helping customization of imaging phantoms.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":54397,"journal":{"name":"Zeitschrift fur Medizinische Physik","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/pmc/oa_pdf/8b/5d/main.PMC10311275.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9732212","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-05-01DOI: 10.1016/j.zemedi.2022.07.001
Theo Oltrup, Marvin Bende, Celine Henseling, Thomas Bende, Martin A Leitritz, Karl Ulrich Bartz-Schmidt
Purpose
Our study presents a digitised tangent screen test for ocular motility analysis according to the Harms and Hess tests (measurement of the squint angle in all fields of vision). This test uses an image beamer to display the tangent screen, a position sensor to measure the patient’s head orientation, and a distance sensor to measure the fixation distance. Digital measurement of head orientation allows for a test procedure that eliminates the conventional requirement for a light pointer in the patient’s hand. Thus, the digital screen test is presented, and the uncertainty of the measurement system is evaluated.
Methods
A mathematical relationship was given between the measured squint angles, as well as the angle of diagnostic gaze direction, and the influence quantities on their measurement uncertainty. The individual uncertainties resulted from deviations in the measured values by the position and distance sensors, the calibration of the projection image of the beamer in length units, and the finite image resolution of the beamer. The individual standard uncertainties of the influence quantities were determined. The combined standard measurement uncertainties of the squint and gaze direction angles were given based on the model equation of the error propagation law at the tangent table according to Harms at a test distance of 2.5 m. The patient’s uncertainty contribution to the mobility analysis was not considered.
Results
The combined standard uncertainty of the measurement system (coverage factor k = 2 for 95% confidence level) for the squint angle is ≤ 0.43° for the angle of diagnostic gaze direction ≤ 3.13° at the test distance of 2.5 m. The individual standard uncertainties of the influence quantities on the angles are (k = 1): 1.55°/1.01° (horizontal/vertical angle of the position sensor), 0.19° (distance sensor), 0.06° (calibration of the projection image of the beamer), and 0.02° (image resolution of the beamer). The maximum valid test distance of the digital screen test is 3.8 m.
Conclusion
The digital screen test is compact and can be used at different locations. Compared to the traditional test, the time required for examination via the digitised test is less; additionally, its documentation is simplified. The measurement uncertainty of the diagnostic gaze direction angle is dominated by the sensor drift of the position sensor in the horizontal direction (yaw angle) and is due to the sensor technology. However, this drift error does not affect the squint angle measurement result nor its measurement uncertainty because the measurement principle used here is based on the congruence between the position cross and the fixation object and the confusion principle and compensates for the drift error. The measurement uncertainties of the determined measurement system are the lower limits of the uncertainties in the clinical use of the digital scree
{"title":"A new digitised screen test for strabismus measurement","authors":"Theo Oltrup, Marvin Bende, Celine Henseling, Thomas Bende, Martin A Leitritz, Karl Ulrich Bartz-Schmidt","doi":"10.1016/j.zemedi.2022.07.001","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.zemedi.2022.07.001","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Purpose</h3><p>Our study presents a digitised tangent screen test for ocular motility analysis according to the Harms and Hess tests (measurement of the squint angle in all fields of vision). This test uses an image beamer to display the tangent screen, a position sensor to measure the patient’s head orientation, and a distance sensor to measure the fixation distance. Digital measurement of head orientation allows for a test procedure that eliminates the conventional requirement for a light pointer in the patient’s hand. Thus, the digital screen test is presented, and the uncertainty of the measurement system is evaluated.</p></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><p>A mathematical relationship was given between the measured squint angles, as well as the angle of diagnostic gaze direction, and the influence quantities on their measurement uncertainty. The individual uncertainties resulted from deviations in the measured values by the position and distance sensors, the calibration of the projection image of the beamer in length units, and the finite image resolution of the beamer. The individual standard uncertainties of the influence quantities were determined. The combined standard measurement uncertainties of the squint and gaze direction angles were given based on the model equation of the error propagation law at the tangent table according to Harms at a test distance of 2.5 m. The patient’s uncertainty contribution to the mobility analysis was not considered.</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>The combined standard uncertainty of the measurement system (coverage factor k = 2 for 95% confidence level) for the squint angle is ≤ 0.43° for the angle of diagnostic gaze direction ≤ 3.13° at the test distance of 2.5 m. The individual standard uncertainties of the influence quantities on the angles are (k = 1): 1.55°/1.01° (horizontal/vertical angle of the position sensor), 0.19° (distance sensor), 0.06° (calibration of the projection image of the beamer), and 0.02° (image resolution of the beamer). The maximum valid test distance of the digital screen test is 3.8 m.</p></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><p>The digital screen test is compact and can be used at different locations. Compared to the traditional test, the time required for examination via the digitised test is less; additionally, its documentation is simplified. The measurement uncertainty of the diagnostic gaze direction angle is dominated by the sensor drift of the position sensor in the horizontal direction (yaw angle) and is due to the sensor technology. However, this drift error does not affect the squint angle measurement result nor its measurement uncertainty because the measurement principle used here is based on the congruence between the position cross and the fixation object and the confusion principle and compensates for the drift error. The measurement uncertainties of the determined measurement system are the lower limits of the uncertainties in the clinical use of the digital scree","PeriodicalId":54397,"journal":{"name":"Zeitschrift fur Medizinische Physik","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/pmc/oa_pdf/93/6c/main.PMC10311250.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9738753","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-05-01DOI: 10.1016/j.zemedi.2022.01.003
Oliver Bieri , Orso Pusterla , Grzegorz Bauman
Purpose
To demonstrate free-breathing thoracic MRI with a minimal-TR balanced steady-state free precession (bSSFP) technique using wobbling Archimedean spiral pole (WASP) trajectories.
Methods
Phantom and free-breathing in vivo chest imaging in healthy volunteers was performed at 1.5T with a half-radial, dual-echo, bSSFP sequence, termed bSTAR. For maximum sampling efficiency, a single analog-to-digital converter window along the full bipolar readout was used. To ensure a homogeneous coverage of the k-space over multiple breathing cycles, radial k-space sampling followed short-duration Archimedean spiral interleaves that were randomly titled by a small polar angle and rotated by a golden angle about the polar axis; depticting a wobbling Archimedean spiral pole (WASP) trajectory. In phantom and in vivo experiments, WASP trajectories were compared to spiral phyllotaxis sampling in terms of eddy currents and were used to generate in vivo thorax images at different respiratory phases.
Results
WASP trajectories provided artifact-free bSTAR imaging in both phantom and in vivo and respiratory self-gated reconstruction was successfully performed in all subjects. The amount of the acquired data allowed the reconstruction of 10 volumes at different respiratory levels with isotropic resolution of 1.77 mm from a scan of 5.5 minutes (using a TR of 1.32ms), and one high-resolution 1.16 mm end-expiratory volume from a scan of 4.7 minutes (using a TR of 1.42ms). The very short TR of bSTAR mitigated off-resonance artifacts despite the large field-of-view.
Conclusion
We have demonstrated the feasibility of high-resolution free-breathing thoracic imaging with bSTAR using the wobbling Archimedean spiral pole in healthy subjects at 1.5T.
{"title":"Free-breathing half-radial dual-echo balanced steady-state free precession thoracic imaging with wobbling Archimedean spiral pole trajectories","authors":"Oliver Bieri , Orso Pusterla , Grzegorz Bauman","doi":"10.1016/j.zemedi.2022.01.003","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.zemedi.2022.01.003","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Purpose</h3><p>To demonstrate free-breathing thoracic MRI with a minimal-TR balanced steady-state free precession (bSSFP) technique using wobbling Archimedean spiral pole (WASP) trajectories.</p></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><p>Phantom and free-breathing <em>in vivo</em> chest imaging in healthy volunteers was performed at 1.5T with a half-radial, dual-echo, bSSFP sequence, termed bSTAR. For maximum sampling efficiency, a single analog-to-digital converter window along the full bipolar readout was used. To ensure a homogeneous coverage of the k-space over multiple breathing cycles, radial k-space sampling followed short-duration Archimedean spiral interleaves that were randomly titled by a small polar angle and rotated by a golden angle about the polar axis; depticting a wobbling Archimedean spiral pole (WASP) trajectory. In phantom and <em>in vivo</em> experiments, WASP trajectories were compared to spiral phyllotaxis sampling in terms of eddy currents and were used to generate <em>in vivo</em> thorax images at different respiratory phases.</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>WASP trajectories provided artifact-free bSTAR imaging in both phantom and <em>in vivo</em> and respiratory self-gated reconstruction was successfully performed in all subjects. The amount of the acquired data allowed the reconstruction of 10 volumes at different respiratory levels with isotropic resolution of 1.77<!--> <!-->mm from a scan of 5.5<!--> <!-->minutes (using a TR of 1.32ms), and one high-resolution 1.16<!--> <!-->mm end-expiratory volume from a scan of 4.7<!--> <!-->minutes (using a TR of 1.42ms). The very short TR of bSTAR mitigated off-resonance artifacts despite the large field-of-view.</p></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><p>We have demonstrated the feasibility of high-resolution free-breathing thoracic imaging with bSTAR using the wobbling Archimedean spiral pole in healthy subjects at 1.5T.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":54397,"journal":{"name":"Zeitschrift fur Medizinische Physik","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10311259/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9738237","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-05-01DOI: 10.1016/j.zemedi.2023.04.002
Piotr Zygmanski, Erno Sajo, Davide Brivio
{"title":"Nanoparticle-based radiotherapy: Is dose all that matters?","authors":"Piotr Zygmanski, Erno Sajo, Davide Brivio","doi":"10.1016/j.zemedi.2023.04.002","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.zemedi.2023.04.002","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":54397,"journal":{"name":"Zeitschrift fur Medizinische Physik","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/pmc/oa_pdf/7c/57/main.PMC10311263.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10118645","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-05-01DOI: 10.1016/j.zemedi.2022.02.002
Efe Ilicak , Emine Ulku Saritas , Tolga Çukur
Purpose
Image quality in accelerated MRI rests on careful selection of various reconstruction parameters. A common yet tedious and error-prone practice is to hand-tune each parameter to attain visually appealing reconstructions. Here, we propose a parameter tuning strategy to automate hybrid parallel imaging (PI) – compressed sensing (CS) reconstructions via low-rank modeling of local k-space neighborhoods (LORAKS) supplemented with sparsity regularization in wavelet and total variation (TV) domains.
Methods
For low-rank regularization, we leverage a soft-thresholding operation based on singular values for matrix rank selection in LORAKS. For sparsity regularization, we employ Stein's unbiased risk estimate criterion to select the wavelet regularization parameter and local standard deviation of reconstructions to select the TV regularization parameter. Comprehensive demonstrations are presented on a numerical brain phantom and in vivo brain and knee acquisitions. Quantitative assessments are performed via PSNR, SSIM and NMSE metrics.
Results
The proposed hybrid PI-CS method improves reconstruction quality compared to PI-only techniques, and it achieves on par image quality to reconstructions with brute-force optimization of reconstruction parameters. These results are prominent across several different datasets and the range of examined acceleration rates.
Conclusion
A data-driven parameter tuning strategy to automate hybrid PI-CS reconstructions is presented. The proposed method achieves reliable reconstructions of accelerated multi-coil MRI datasets without the need for exhaustive hand-tuning of reconstruction parameters.
{"title":"Automated Parameter Selection for Accelerated MRI Reconstruction via Low-Rank Modeling of Local k-Space Neighborhoods","authors":"Efe Ilicak , Emine Ulku Saritas , Tolga Çukur","doi":"10.1016/j.zemedi.2022.02.002","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.zemedi.2022.02.002","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Purpose</h3><p>Image quality in accelerated MRI rests on careful selection of various reconstruction parameters. A common yet tedious and error-prone practice is to hand-tune each parameter to attain visually appealing reconstructions. Here, we propose a parameter tuning strategy to automate hybrid parallel imaging (PI) – compressed sensing (CS) reconstructions via low-rank modeling of local k-space neighborhoods (LORAKS) supplemented with sparsity regularization in wavelet and total variation (TV) domains.</p></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><p>For low-rank regularization, we leverage a soft-thresholding operation based on singular values for matrix rank selection in LORAKS. For sparsity regularization, we employ Stein's unbiased risk estimate criterion to select the wavelet regularization parameter and local standard deviation of reconstructions to select the TV regularization parameter. Comprehensive demonstrations are presented on a numerical brain phantom and in vivo brain and knee acquisitions. Quantitative assessments are performed via PSNR, SSIM and NMSE metrics.</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>The proposed hybrid PI-CS method improves reconstruction quality compared to PI-only techniques, and it achieves on par image quality to reconstructions with brute-force optimization of reconstruction parameters. These results are prominent across several different datasets and the range of examined acceleration rates.</p></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><p>A data-driven parameter tuning strategy to automate hybrid PI-CS reconstructions is presented. The proposed method achieves reliable reconstructions of accelerated multi-coil MRI datasets without the need for exhaustive hand-tuning of reconstruction parameters.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":54397,"journal":{"name":"Zeitschrift fur Medizinische Physik","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/pmc/oa_pdf/8a/60/main.PMC10311279.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9738233","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-05-01DOI: 10.1016/j.zemedi.2022.05.003
Barbara Knäusl , Peter Kuess , Markus Stock , Dietmar Georg , Piero Fossati , Petra Georg , Lukas Zimmermann
Background and purpose
Anatomical surveillance during ion-beam therapy is the basis for an effective tumor treatment and optimal organ at risk (OAR) sparing. Synthetic computed tomography (sCT) based on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can replace the X-ray based planning CT (X-rayCT) in photon radiotherapy and improve the workflow efficiency without additional imaging dose. The extension to carbon-ion radiotherapy is highly challenging; complex patient positioning, unique anatomical situations, distinct horizontal and vertical beam incidence directions, and limited training data are only few problems. This study gives insight into the possibilities and challenges of using sCTs in carbon-ion therapy.
Materials and methods
For head and neck patients immobilised with thermoplastic masks 30 clinically applied actively scanned carbon-ion treatment plans on 15 CTs comprising 60 beams were analyzed. Those treatment plans were re-calculated on MRI based sCTs which were created employing a 3D U-Net. Dose differences and carbon-ion spot displacements between sCT and X-rayCT were evaluated on a patient specific basis.
Results
Spot displacement analysis showed a peak displacement by 0.2 cm caused by the immobilisation mask not measurable with the MRI. 95.7% of all spot displacements were located within 1 cm. For the clinical target volume (CTV) the median agreed within −0.2% (−1.3 to 1.4%), while the median differed up to 4.2% (−1.3 to 25.3%) comparing the dose distribution on the X-rayCT and the sCT. OAR deviations depended strongly on the position and the dose gradient. For three patients no deterioration of the OAR parameters was observed. Other patients showed large deteriorations, e.g. for one patient of the chiasm differed by 28.1%.
Conclusion
The usage of sCTs opens several new questions, concluding that we are not ready yet for an MR-only workflow in carbon-ion therapy, as envisaged in photon therapy. Although omitting the X-rayCT seems unfavourable in the case of carbon-ion therapy, an sCT could be advantageous for monitoring, re-planning, and adaptation.
{"title":"Possibilities and challenges when using synthetic computed tomography in an adaptive carbon-ion treatment workflow","authors":"Barbara Knäusl , Peter Kuess , Markus Stock , Dietmar Georg , Piero Fossati , Petra Georg , Lukas Zimmermann","doi":"10.1016/j.zemedi.2022.05.003","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.zemedi.2022.05.003","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background and purpose</h3><p>Anatomical surveillance during ion-beam therapy is the basis for an effective tumor treatment and optimal organ at risk (OAR) sparing. Synthetic computed tomography (sCT) based on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can replace the X-ray based planning CT (X-rayCT) in photon radiotherapy and improve the workflow efficiency without additional imaging dose. The extension to carbon-ion radiotherapy is highly challenging; complex patient positioning, unique anatomical situations, distinct horizontal and vertical beam incidence directions, and limited training data are only few problems. This study gives insight into the possibilities and challenges of using sCTs in carbon-ion therapy.</p></div><div><h3>Materials and methods</h3><p>For head and neck patients immobilised with thermoplastic masks 30 clinically applied actively scanned carbon-ion treatment plans on 15 CTs comprising 60 beams were analyzed. Those treatment plans were re-calculated on MRI based sCTs which were created employing a 3D U-Net. Dose differences and carbon-ion spot displacements between sCT and X-rayCT were evaluated on a patient specific basis.</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>Spot displacement analysis showed a peak displacement by 0.2 cm caused by the immobilisation mask not measurable with the MRI. 95.7% of all spot displacements were located within 1 cm. For the clinical target volume (CTV) the median <span><math><mrow><msub><mrow><mi>D</mi></mrow><mrow><mn>50</mn><mo>%</mo></mrow></msub></mrow></math></span> agreed within −0.2% (−1.3 to 1.4%), while the median <span><math><mrow><msub><mrow><mi>D</mi></mrow><mrow><mn>0.01</mn><mspace></mspace><mi>cc</mi></mrow></msub></mrow></math></span> differed up to 4.2% (−1.3 to 25.3%) comparing the dose distribution on the X-rayCT and the sCT. OAR deviations depended strongly on the position and the dose gradient. For three patients no deterioration of the OAR parameters was observed. Other patients showed large deteriorations, <em>e.g.</em> for one patient <span><math><mrow><msub><mrow><mi>D</mi></mrow><mrow><mn>2</mn><mo>%</mo></mrow></msub></mrow></math></span> of the chiasm differed by 28.1%.</p></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><p>The usage of sCTs opens several new questions, concluding that we are not ready yet for an MR-only workflow in carbon-ion therapy, as envisaged in photon therapy. Although omitting the X-rayCT seems unfavourable in the case of carbon-ion therapy, an sCT could be advantageous for monitoring, re-planning, and adaptation.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":54397,"journal":{"name":"Zeitschrift fur Medizinische Physik","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/pmc/oa_pdf/8c/51/main.PMC10311249.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9744002","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}