To investigate the impact of respiratory movement to determine the target volume on cone beam CT (CBCT) for lung tumor,we used CIRS dynamic thorax phantom (Model-CIRS008) to simulate the sinusoidal motion of lung tumor. With a constant amplitude, the ratio of the time of near-end-expiratory and near-end- inspiratory (E/I) changed when it was scanned with CBCT. We analyzed the contrast changes of target by extracting the CT value of each pixel on the center line of the target movement direction. The targets were contoured with region growing method and compared with the motion volume generated by the tumor trajectory method. The result showed that the contrast of near-end-expiratory increased and the contrast of near-end-inspiratory decreased with increasing E/I. The contoured volume generated by region growing method decreased with increasing E/I. When E/I=4, the amplitude A=1 cm, diameter of 1 cm and 3 cm target volumes were reduced by 48.2% and 22.7%.The study showed that CBCT was not suitable to be used to accurately determine the range of lung tumor movement. The internal target volume (ITV) may be underestimated in CBCT images.
ObjectiveTo evaluate the effect of post mastectomy radiation therapy (PMRT) on breast reconstruction after mastectomy in breast cancer patients, in order to provide evidence support for clinical treatment decision.MethodsFive databases searched in the current study include the Cochrane Library, PubMed, CNKI, VIP and WanFang database. A systematic search for control trials was performed in each database from the starting date of each database to March 1, 2021. After the two evaluators independently selected literatures, extracted data and conducted quality evaluation according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, the meta analysis was carried out by Revman 5.3 software.ResultsA total of 9 cohort studies (3 447 cases) were included, including 699 cases in PMRT group and2 748 cases in non-radiotherapy group. The results of meta-analysis showed that: PMRT was associated with significant increase in capsular contracture. The incidence of capsular contracture increased from 4.34% in the non-radiotherapy group to 34.10% in patients receiving PMRT [OR=9.25, 95%CI (3.76, 22.78), P<0.000 01]. In addition, PMRT was associated with a significant increase in incidences of reconstructive failure [OR=2.55, 95%CI (1.74, 3.74), P<0.000 01] and revisional surgery [OR=2.24, 95%CI (1.58, 3.18), P<0.000 01]. Moreover it was associated with a significant reduction in patient satisfaction [OR=0.29, 95%CI (0.15, 0.57), P=0.000 30] and cosmetic outcome [OR=0.26, 95%CI (0.15, 0.43), P<0.000 01].ConclusionThis meta-analysis demonstrates that breast cancer patients who received PMRT after breast reconstruction, the rate of adverse events is increased and patients’ satisfaction and cosmetic outcome are decreased.
We reported three cases of stageⅢ/N2 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with neoadjuvant immunotherapy and stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) in our hospital, including 2 males and 1 female with a mean age of 65.7 years. The patients received two doses of the programmed cell death protein-1 inhibitor toripalimab after 1 week of SBRT. Thereafter, surgery was planned 4-6 weeks after the second dose. One patient achieved pathologic complete response, one achieved major pathologic response (MPR), and one did not achieve MPR with 20% residual tumor. There were few side effects of toripalimab combined with SBRT as a neoadjuvant treatment, and the treatment did not cause a delay of surgery.
Objective To overview the systematic reviews of the effectiveness and safety of the charged-particle radiation therapy. Methods Databases including CNKI, WanFang Data, PubMed, and EMbase were electronically searched from January 2007 to November 2020. Two investigators independently screened literature, extracted data, and assessed the quality of the included studies by AMSTAR 2, and then reported results through a narrative synthesis of outcomes. Results A total of 6 systematic reviews were identified. One systematic review demonstrated moderate quality and the other 5 demonstrated critically low quality. The charged-particle radiation therapy had a wide range of applications. Its effectiveness was superior to traditional radiotherapy methods on various types of tumors in various regions of the body, with acceptable side effects. Specifically, the effectiveness and safety outcomes of carbon ion radiotherapy was superior to those of proton radiotherapy. Conclusions Current evidence shows that the charged-particle radiation therapy has superior effectiveness and limited toxicity, though the studies are of relatively low quality. High quality and larger sample size researches are required in the future.
ObjectiveTo summarize clinical application progress of stereotactic radiotherapy for primary hepatocellular carcinoma.
MethodsThe literatures about the research progress of the stereotactic radiotherapy for primary hepatocellular carcinoma were reviewed.
ResultsRadiotherapy for hepatocellular carcinoma is importantly based on the radiation biology of the liver and the radiophysics of the liver cancer. Stereotactic precision radiotherapy is an effective and low toxic treatment for early hepatocellular carcinoma, moreover, it alone or in combination with microwave ablation, hepatic artery chemoembolization for unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma is safe and effective method for the treatment.
ConclusionsThe optimal dose model for hepatocellular carcinoma, hepatocellular carcinoma radical dose level are problems that need further exploration, and radiobiology, radiation physics research must be strengthened to explore it, stereotactic precision radiotherapy treatment modalities in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma position will become increasingly people attention.
ObjectiveTo compare the clinical therapeutic efficacy of radiofrequency ablation (RFA) and external beam radiation (XRT) in the treatment of early hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). MethodsThe early HCC patients were collected in the SEER (Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results) database, from 2010 to 2015, according to the established inclusion and exclusion criteria. The patients were assigned into an XRT group and a RFA group according to according treatment plans. The propensity score matching (PSM) was performed at a ratio of 1∶4 based on age, gender, race, alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), cirrhosis, and tumor diameter. The overall survival of the patients of the two groups was compared, and the risk factors affecting the long-term prognosis for the early HCC patients were analyzed. ResultsA total of 2 861 early HCC patients were collected, including 2 513 in the RFA group and 348 in the XRT group. After PSM, a total of 1 582 patients were enrolled, including 343 in the XRT group and 1 239 in the RFA group. After PSM, the proportion of tumor with larger diameter (>5 cm) in the XRT group was still higher than that in the RFA group (P<0.001), but there were no statistically significant differences in the other clinical pathological characteristics between them (P>0.05). The Kaplan-Meier survival curves of the RFA group was better than that of the XRT group (HR=1.65, P<0.001); The stratified analysis based on the tumor diameter revealed that the survival curves of the RFA group were superior to those of the XRT group in the HCC patients with tumor diameters <3 cm, 3–5 cm, and >5 cm (<3 cm: HR=1.79, P<0.001; 3–5 cm: HR=1.50, P<0.001; >5 cm: HR=1.67, P=0.003). The results of the multivariate Cox regression model analysis showed that the older age (≥65 years), higher AFP level (≥400 μg/L), larger tumor diameter (≥3 cm), and later AJCC stage (stage Ⅱ) were the risk factors for overall survival in the early HCC patients (HR>1, P<0.05), while the XRT treatment was a risk factor for shortening overall survival in the HCC patients [HR(95%CI)=1.62(1.41, 1.86), P<0.001]. ConclusionThe data analysis results from the SEER database suggest that the long-term overall survival of RFA treatment is superior to XRT treatment for patients with AJCC stage Ⅰ or Ⅱ.
ObjectiveTo investigate the effect of Yttrium-90 selective internal radiotherapy (90Y-SIRT) on tumor control and compensatory hyperplasia of left hepatic lobe in the treatment of right hepatic malignant tumor. MethodsThe clinical data of 134 patients with liver malignant tumor (primary or secondary) who were treated with 90Y-SIRT in the Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, Beijing Tsinghua Changgung Hospital from September 2022 to November 2023 were collected, and 29 patients who met the inclusion and exclusion criteria were analyzed retrospectively. The liver volume, tumor volume, postoperative future liver remnant (FLR) and the percentage of FLR proliferation before and after treatment were measured by CT or MRI, and the surgical resection rate and pathological necrosis rate of tumor focus after 90Y-SIRT treatment were analyzed. The liver volume, tumor volume, postoperative future liver remnant (FLR) and the percentage of FLR hyperplasia were measured by CT or MRI before and 1 and 3 months after 90Y-SIRT, and the surgical resection rate and pathological necrosis rate of tumor lesions after 90Y-SIRT treatment were analyzed. ResultsOf the 29 patients, 22 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, 2 patients with cholangiocarcinoma and 5 patients with liver metastases from colorectal cancer received 90Y-SIRT of the right liver. At 1 and 3 months after treatment, the tumor volume average decreased by 149.2 mL (P=0.124) and 228.2 mL (P=0.012), the right liver volume was average reduced by 197.4 mL (P=0.026) and 318.6 mL (P=0.023), the left liver volume average increased by 64.9 mL (P=0.261) and 144.7 mL (P=0.124), and the percentage of FLR increased by 6.6% (P=0.018) and 13.4% (P＜0.001) of 29 patients, respectively. Three months after operation, mRECIST standard was used to evaluate the curative effect of tumor imaging. The results showed that the objective response rate of tumor was 79.3% and the disease control rate was 93.1%. Conclusions90Y-SIRT can effectively control the growth of malignant tumors in the right lobe of the liver and induce compensatory hyperplasia of the left liver. At the same time, high objective response rate and pathological necrosis rate of tumor lesions can be obtained.
ObjectiveTo systematically evaluate the efficacy of adjuvant radiotherapy after thymoma resection. MethodsThe PubMed, EMbase, The Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Wanfang, VIP, CNKI databases were systematically searched to find relevant literature comparing the efficacy and effectiveness of thymoma resection and thymoma resection+postoperative radiation therapy (PORT) for treating thymoma published from inception to January 2024. The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) was used to evaluate the quality of included retrospective studies, and Review Manager 5.4 software was used to perform meta-analysis. ResultsA total of 23 articles were included, all of which were retrospective studies. There were a total of 13742 patients, including 6980 patients in the simple surgery group, with 3321 males and 3659 females, and an average age of 54.08 years; 6762 patients in the surgery+PORT group, with 3385 males and 3377 females, and an average age of 53.76 years. The NOS scores of the included literature were all≥7 points. The results of the meta-analysis showed that compared with the simple surgery group, the surgery+PORT group had higher 1-year overall survival rate [OR=0.32, 95%CI (0.25, 0.42), P<0.001], 3-year overall survival rate [OR=0.55, 95%CI (0.48, 0.64), P<0.001], 5-year overall survival rate [OR=0.66, 95%CI (0.58, 0.75), P<0.001], 10-year overall survival rate [OR=0.71, 95%CI (0.57, 0.88), P=0.002], 1-year disease-free survival rate [OR=0.47, 95%CI (0.23, 0.93), P=0.030], 5-year disease-free survival rate [OR=0.61, 95%CI (0.45, 0.84), P=0.003], 3-year disease-specific survival rate [OR=0.44, 95%CI (0.35, 0.55), P<0.001], 5-year disease-specific survival rate [OR=0.53, 95%CI (0.44, 0.63), P<0.001] and 10-year disease-specific survival rate [OR=0.53, 95%CI (0.35, 0.82), P=0.004]. But there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups in terms of 3-year disease-free survival rate [OR=0.86, 95%CI (0.61, 1.22), P=0.400], 10-year disease-free survival rate [OR=0.70, 95%CI (0.47, 1.05), P=0.080] and 1-year disease-specific survival rate [OR=0.83, 95%CI (0.55, 1.26), P=0.380]. ConclusionPORT after thymoma resection has more advantages than simple surgical treatment in terms of 1-, 3-, 5-, and 10-year overall survival, 1- and 5-year disease-free survival, and 3-, 5- and 10-year disease-specific survival.
ObjectiveTo systematically summarize recent advancements in the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in key components of radiotherapy (RT), explore the integration of technical innovations with clinical practice, and identify current limitations in real-world implementation. MethodsA comprehensive analysis of representative studies from recent years was conducted, focusing on the technical implementation and clinical effectiveness of AI in image reconstruction, automatic delineation of target volumes and organs at risk, intelligent treatment planning, and prediction of RT-related toxicities. Particular attention was given to deep learning models, multimodal data integration, and their roles in enhancing decision-making processes. ResultsAI-based low-dose image enhancement techniques had significantly improved image quality. Automated segmentation methods had increased the efficiency and consistency of contouring. Both knowledge-driven and data-driven planning systems had addressed the limitations of traditional experience-dependent approaches, contributing to higher quality and reproducibility in treatment plans. Additionally, toxicity prediction models that incorporated multimodal data enabled more accurate, personalized risk assessment, supporting safer and more effective individualized RT. ConclusionsRT is a fundamental modality in cancer treatment. However, achieving precise tumor ablation while minimizing damage to surrounding healthy tissues remains a significant challenge. AI has demonstrated considerable value across multiple technical stages of RT, enhancing precision, efficiency, and personalization. Nevertheless, challenges such as limited model generalizability, lack of data standardization, and insufficient clinical validation persist. Future work should emphasize the alignment of algorithmic development with clinical demands to facilitate the standardized, reliable, and practical application of AI in RT.
The dose data produced by treatment plan system (TPS) in intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) has many gradient edge points. Considering this feature we proposed a new interpolation algorithm called treatment plan dose interpolation algorithm based on gradient feature in intensity-modulated radiation therapy (TDAGI), which improves the Canny algorithm to detect the gradient edge points and non-edge points by using the gradient information in the dose data plane. For each gradient edge point, the corresponding gradient profile was traced and the profile's sharpness was calculated, and for each non-edge point, the dispersion was calculated. With the sharpness or dispersion, the kernel coefficients of bi-cubic interpolation can be obtained and can be used as the central point to complete the bi-cubic interpolation calculation. Compared with bi-cubic interpolation and bilinear interpolation, the TDAGI algorithm is more accurate. Furthermore, the TDAGI algorithm has the advantage of gradient keeping. Therefore, TDAGI can be used as an alternative method in the dose interpolation of TPS in IMRT.
