scholarly journals Optimizing the effective spot size and the dosimetric leaf gap of the AcurosXB algorithm for VMAT treatment planning

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Passal ◽  
M. Barreau ◽  
T. Tiplica ◽  
S. Dufreneix
Keyword(s):  
Treatment Planning ◽  
Spot Size ◽  
Dosimetric Leaf Gap

scholarly journals Dosimetric study of the interplay effect using three-dimensional motion phantom in proton pencil beam scanning treatment of moving thoracic tumours

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Hardev S. Grewal ◽  
Salahuddin Ahmad ◽  
Hosang Jin
Keyword(s):  
Treatment Planning ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Spot Size ◽  
Passing Rate ◽  
Treatment Plans ◽  
Motion Phantom ◽  
Interplay Effect ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Motion Amplitude ◽  
Dose Difference

Abstract Aim: The dosimetric and clinical advantages offered by implementation of pencil beam scanning (PBS) proton therapy for moving thoracic tumours is hindered by interplay effect. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of large proton beam spot size along with adaptive aperture (AA) and various motion mitigation techniques on the interplay effect for a range of motion amplitudes in a three-dimensional (3D) respiratory motion phantom. Materials and Methods: Point doses using ionisation chamber (IC) and planner dose distributions with radiochromic film were compared against the corresponding treatment planning system (TPS) information. A 3D respiratory motion phantom was scanned either for static or 4D computed tomographic (CT) technique for 6-, 10- and 14-mm motion amplitudes in SI direction. For free breathing (FB) treatment, a tumour was contoured on maximum intensity projection scan and an average scan was used for treatment planning. Each FB treatment was delivered with one, three and five volumetric repaintings (VRs). Three phases (CT40–60%) were extracted from the 4D-CT scans of each motion amplitude for the respiratory-gated treatment and were used for the treatment planning and delivery. All treatment plans were made using AA and robustly optimised with 5-mm set-up and 3·5% density uncertainty. A total of 26 treatment plans were delivered to IC and film using static, dynamic and respiratory-gated treatments combinations. A percent dose difference between IC and TPS for the point dose and gamma indices for film–TPS planner dose comparison was used. Results: The dose profile of film and TPS for the static phantom matched well, and percent dose difference between IC and TPS was 0·4%. The percent dose difference for all the gated treatments were below 3·0% except 14-mm motion amplitude-gated treatment. The gamma passing rate was more than 95% for film–TPS comparison for all gated treatment for the investigated gamma acceptance criteria. For FB treatments, the percent dose difference for 6-, 10- and 14-mm motion amplitude was 1·4%, −2·7% and −4·1%, respectively. As the number of VR increased, the percent difference between measured and calculated values decreased. The gamma passing rate met the required tolerance for different acceptance criteria except for the 14-mm motion amplitude FB treatment. Conclusion: The PBS technique for the FB thoracic treatments up to 10-mm motion amplitude can be implemented with an acceptable accuracy using large proton beam spot size, AA and robust optimisation. The impact of the interplay effect can be reduced with VR and respiratory-gated treatment and extend the treatable tumour motion amplitude.

scholarly journals Inter-unit variability of multi-leaf collimator parameters for IMRT and VMAT treatment planning: a multi-institutional survey

2020 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 307-313 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masaru Isono ◽  
Yuichi Akino ◽  
Hirokazu Mizuno ◽  
Yoshihiro Tanaka ◽  
Norihisa Masai ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Treatment Planning ◽  
Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy ◽  
Planning System ◽  
Treatment Planning System ◽  
Transmission Factor ◽  
Source Surface ◽  
Sensitive Volume ◽  
Medical Systems ◽  
Multi Leaf Collimator ◽  
Dosimetric Leaf Gap

Abstract Modern treatment machines have shown small inter-unit variability regarding beam data. Recently, vendor-provided average beam data, such as the Representative Beam Data (RBD) of the TrueBeam (Varian Medical Systems, Palo Alto, CA, USA), has been used for modeling of the Eclipse (Varian Medical Systems) treatment planning system. However, RBD does not provide multi-leaf collimator (MLC) parameters, such as MLC leaf transmission factor (LTF) and dosimetric leaf gap (DLG). We performed a web-based multi-institutional survey to investigate these parameters as well as the measurement protocols and customization of the parameters for intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) and/or volumetric modulated radiotherapy (VMAT) commissioning. We collected 69 sets of linear accelerator (linac) data from 58 institutions. In order to measure MLC parameters, most institutions used farmer-type ionization chambers with a sensitive volume of 0.6 cm3, water phantoms, source surface distance of 90 cm with 10 cm depth, and a vendor-provided plan. The LTF showed small inter-unit variabilities, although the DLG showed large variations. For optimization of the parameters for IMRT/VMAT calculations, DLG values were upwardly adjusted at many institutions, whereas the LTF values were modestly changed. We clarified that MLC parameters were measured under the same conditions at more than half of the facilities. Most institutions customized parameters in a similar manner for IMRT/VMAT. The median measured and customized values obtained in our study will be valuable to verify MLC installation accuracy and to shorten the iterative processes of finding the optimal values.

Remarks on the application of backscattered electron imaging (BEI) to the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of biological structures

1983 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
pp. 484-487
Author(s):  
Etienne de Harven
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Incident Beam ◽  
Spot Size ◽  
Primary Electron ◽  
Critical Point Drying ◽  
Cell Shapes ◽  
High Resolution Images ◽  
Backscattered Electron ◽  
Electron Imaging ◽  
Scanning Electron

Biological ultrastructures have been extensively studied with the scanning electron microscope (SEM) for the past 12 years mainly because this instrument offers accurate and reproducible high resolution images of cell shapes, provided the cells are dried in ways which will spare them the damage which would be caused by air drying. This can be achieved by several techniques among which the critical point drying technique of T. Anderson has been, by far, the most reproducibly successful. Many biologists, however, have been interpreting SEM micrographs in terms of an exclusive secondary electron imaging (SEI) process in which the resolution is primarily limited by the spot size of the primary incident beam. in fact, this is not the case since it appears that high resolution, even on uncoated samples, is probably compromised by the emission of secondary electrons of much more complex origin.When an incident primary electron beam interacts with the surface of most biological samples, a large percentage of the electrons penetrate below the surface of the exposed cells.

A High Resolution Scanning Microscope

1968 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 356-357
Author(s):  
A. V. Crewe ◽  
J. Wall ◽  
L. M. Welter
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Field Emission ◽  
Spherical Aberration ◽  
Focal Length ◽  
Spot Size ◽  
Emission Source ◽  
Field Of View ◽  
Scanning Microscope ◽  
Magnetic Lens ◽  
High Quality

A scanning microscope using a field emission source has been described elsewhere. This microscope has now been improved by replacing the single magnetic lens with a high quality lens of the type described by Ruska. This lens has a focal length of 1 mm and a spherical aberration coefficient of 0.5 mm. The final spot size, and therefore the microscope resolution, is limited by the aberration of this lens to about 6 Å.The lens has been constructed very carefully, maintaining a tolerance of + 1 μ on all critical surfaces. The gun is prealigned on the lens to form a compact unit. The only mechanical adjustments are those which control the specimen and the tip positions. The microscope can be used in two modes. With the lens off and the gun focused on the specimen, the resolution is 250 Å over an undistorted field of view of 2 mm. With the lens on,the resolution is 20 Å or better over a field of view of 40 microns. The magnification can be accurately varied by attenuating the raster current.

Image registration with a computer driven S.T.E.M.

1978 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 98-99
Author(s):  
A.M.H. Schepman ◽  
J.A.P. van der Voort ◽  
J.E. Mellema
Keyword(s):  
Spot Size ◽  
Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope ◽  
Small Computer ◽  
Structural Studies ◽  
Area Of Interest ◽  
Transmission Electron ◽  
Scanning Transmission ◽  
Specimen Area ◽  
On Line ◽  
Minimum Distances

A Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope (STEM) was coupled to a small computer. The system (see Fig. 1) has been built using a Philips EM400, equipped with a scanning attachment and a DEC PDP11/34 computer with 34K memory. The gun (Fig. 2) consists of a continuously renewed tip of radius 0.2 to 0.4 μm of a tungsten wire heated just below its melting point by a focussed laser beam (1). On-line operation procedures were developped aiming at the reduction of the amount of radiation of the specimen area of interest, while selecting the various imaging parameters and upon registration of the information content. Whereas the theoretical limiting spot size is 0.75 nm (2), routine resolution checks showed minimum distances in the order 1.2 to 1.5 nm between corresponding intensity maxima in successive scans. This value is sufficient for structural studies of regular biological material to test the performance of STEM over high resolution CTEM.

Ultra-spatially resolved synchrotron powered FT-IR microspectroscopy of individual cells of biological material

1995 ◽  
Vol 53 ◽  
pp. 884-885
Author(s):  
David L. Wetzel ◽  
John A. Reffner ◽  
Gwyn P. Williams
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Noise ◽  
Spot Size ◽  
Acquisition Time ◽  
Thermal Source ◽  
Signal To Noise ◽  
Spatially Resolved ◽  
Good Spatial Resolution ◽  
Small Spot ◽  
Ft Ir ◽  
Ir Microspectroscopy

Synchrotron radiation is 100 to 1000 times brighter than a thermal source such as a globar. It is not accompanied with thermal noise and it is highly directional and nondivergent. For these reasons, it is well suited for ultra-spatially resolved FT-IR microspectroscopy. In efforts to attain good spatial resolution in FT-IR microspectroscopy with a thermal source, a considerable fraction of the infrared beam focused onto the specimen is lost when projected remote apertures are used to achieve a small spot size. This is the case because of divergence in the beam from that source. Also the brightness is limited and it is necessary to compromise on the signal-to-noise or to expect a long acquisition time from coadding many scans. A synchrotron powered FT-IR Microspectrometer does not suffer from this effect. Since most of the unaperatured beam’s energy makes it through even a 12 × 12 μm aperture, that is a starting place for aperture dimension reduction.

Electron Channelling Contrast Imaging of Dislocations

1990 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 600-601
Author(s):  
J.T. Czernuszka ◽  
N.J. Long ◽  
P.B. Hirsch
Keyword(s):  
Field Emission ◽  
Secondary Electron ◽  
Surface Defects ◽  
Spot Size ◽  
Beam Divergence ◽  
Contrast Imaging ◽  
Scattered Electron ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Filter System ◽  
Electron Channelling

In the 1970s there was considerable interest in the development of the electron channelling contrast imaging (ECCI) technique for imaging near surface defects in bulk (electron opaque) specimens. The predictions of the theories were realised experimentally by Morin et al., who used a field emission gun (FEG) operating at 40-50kV and an energy filter such that only electrons which had lost no more than a few 100V were detected. This paper presents the results of a set of preliminary experiments which show that an energy filter system is unneccessary to image and characterise the Burgers vectors of dislocations in bulk specimens. The examples in the paper indicatethe general versatility of the technique.A VG HB501 STEM with a FEG was operated at 100kV. A single tilt cartridge was used in the reflection position of the microscope. A retractable back-scattered electron detector was fitted into the secondary electron port and positioned to within a few millimetres of the specimen. The image was acquired using a Synoptics Synergy framestore and digital scan generator and subsequently processed using Semper 6. The beam divergence with the specimen in this position was 2.5 mrads with a spot size of approximately 4nm. Electron channelling patterns were used to orientate the sample.

Microspectroscopy Using a Solid Immersion Lens

2001 ◽  
Vol 7 (S2) ◽  
pp. 148-149
Author(s):  
C.D. Poweleit ◽  
J Menéndez
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Resolution ◽  
Focal Plane ◽  
Numerical Aperture ◽  
Normal Incidence ◽  
Spot Size ◽  
Index Of Refraction ◽  
Objective Lens ◽  
Improvement Factor ◽  
Oil Immersion ◽  
Long Time

Oil immersion lenses have been used in optical microscopy for a long time. The light’s wavelength is decreased by the oil’s index of refraction n and this reduces the minimum spot size. Additionally, the oil medium allows a larger collection angle, thereby increasing the numerical aperture. The SIL is based on the same principle, but offers more flexibility because the higher index material is solid. in particular, SILs can be deployed in cryogenic environments. Using a hemispherical glass the spatial resolution is improved by a factor n with respect to the resolution obtained with the microscope’s objective lens alone. The improvement factor is equal to n2 for truncated spheres.As shown in Fig. 1, the hemisphere SIL is in contact with the sample and does not affect the position of the focal plane. The focused rays from the objective strike the lens at normal incidence, so that no refraction takes place.

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