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Pencil-beam Scanning
Pencil beam scanning is the practice of steering a beam of radiation or charged particles across an object. It is often used in proton therapy, to reduce unnecessary radiation exposure to surrounding non-cancerous cells. Ionizing radiation Ionizing radiation photons or x-rays (IMRT) use pencil beam scanning to precisely target a tumor. Photon pencil beam scans are defined as crossing of two beams to a fine point. Charged particles Several charged particles devices used with Proton therapy cancer centers use pencil beam scanning. The newer proton therapy machines use a pencil beam scanning technology. This technique is also called spot scanning. The Paul Scherrer Institute was the developer of spot beam. Intensity Modulated Proton Therapy Varian's IMPT system uses all pencil-beam controlled protons where the beam intensity can also be controlled at this small level. This can be done by going back and forth over a previously radiated area during the same radiation session. See ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Proton Therapy
In medicine, proton therapy, or proton radiotherapy, is a type of particle therapy that uses a beam of protons to irradiate diseased tissue, most often to treat cancer. The chief advantage of proton therapy over other types of external beam radiotherapy is that the dose of protons is deposited over a narrow range of depth; hence in minimal entry, exit, or scattered radiation dose to healthy nearby tissues. When evaluating whether to treat a tumor with photon or proton therapy, physicians may choose proton therapy if it is important to deliver a higher radiation dose to targeted tissues while significantly decreasing radiation to nearby organs at risk. The American Society for Radiation Oncology Model Policy for Proton Beam therapy says proton therapy is considered reasonable if sparing the surrounding normal tissue "cannot be adequately achieved with photon-based radiotherapy" and can benefit the patient. Like photon radiation therapy, proton therapy is often used in conjuncti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Radiation Treatment Planning
In radiotherapy, radiation treatment planning (RTP) is the process in which a team consisting of radiation oncologists, radiation therapist, medical physicists and medical dosimetrists plan the appropriate external beam radiotherapy or internal brachytherapy treatment technique for a patient with cancer. History In the early days of radiotherapy planning was performed on 2D x-ray images, often by hand and with manual calculations. Computerised treatment planning systems began to be used in the 1970s to improve the accuracy and speed of dose calculations. By the 1990s CT scans, more powerful computers, improved dose calculation algorithms and Multileaf collimators (MLCs) lead to 3D conformal planning (3DCRT), categorised as a Level 2 technique by the European Dynarad consortium. 3DCRT uses MLCs to shape the radiotherapy beam to closely match the shape of a target tumour, reducing the dose to healthy surrounding tissue. Level 3 techniques such as IMRT and VMAT utilise inverse pla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Medical Physics
Medical physics deals with the application of the concepts and methods of physics to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of human diseases with a specific goal of improving human health and well-being. Since 2008, medical physics has been included as a health profession according to International Standard Classification of Occupation of the International Labour Organization. Although medical physics may sometimes also be referred to as ''biomedical physics'', ''medical biophysics'', ''applied physics in medicine'', ''physics applications in medical science'', ''radiological physics'' or ''hospital radio-physics'', however a "medical physicist" is specifically a health professional with specialist education and training in the concepts and techniques of applying physics in medicine and competent to practice independently in one or more of the subfields of medical physics. Traditionally, medical physicists are found in the following healthcare specialties: radiation oncology (a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Varian Medical Systems
Varian Medical Systems is an American radiation oncology treatments and software maker based in Palo Alto, California. Their medical devices include linear accelerators (LINACs) and software for treating cancer and other medical conditions with radiotherapy, radiosurgery, proton therapy, and brachytherapy. The company supplies software for managing cancer clinics, radiotherapy centers, and medical oncology practices. Varian Medical Systems employs more than 7,100 people at manufacturing sites in North America, Europe, and China and approximately 70 sites globally. In August 2020, Siemens Healthineers announced plans to acquire Varian for $16.4 billion. The deal was completed on April 15, 2021. After the merger it will continue to operate independently and will retain its headquarters along with its 10,000 employees. History Varian was founded in 1948 as Varian Associates by Russell H. Varian, Sigurd F. Varian, William Webster Hansen, and Edward Ginzton to sell the Klystron, th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monte Carlo Method
Monte Carlo methods, or Monte Carlo experiments, are a broad class of computational algorithms that rely on repeated random sampling to obtain numerical results. The underlying concept is to use randomness to solve problems that might be deterministic in principle. They are often used in physical and mathematical problems and are most useful when it is difficult or impossible to use other approaches. Monte Carlo methods are mainly used in three problem classes: optimization, numerical integration, and generating draws from a probability distribution. In physics-related problems, Monte Carlo methods are useful for simulating systems with many coupled degrees of freedom, such as fluids, disordered materials, strongly coupled solids, and cellular structures (see cellular Potts model, interacting particle systems, McKean–Vlasov processes, kinetic models of gases). Other examples include modeling phenomena with significant uncertainty in inputs such as the calculation of ris ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diffusion Theory
Photon transport in biological tissue can be equivalently modeled numerically with Monte Carlo simulations or analytically by the radiative transfer equation (RTE). However, the RTE is difficult to solve without introducing approximations. A common approximation summarized here is the diffusion approximation. Overall, solutions to the diffusion equation for photon transport are more computationally efficient, but less accurate than Monte Carlo simulations. Definitions The RTE can mathematically model the transfer of energy as photons move inside a tissue. The flow of radiation energy through a small area element in the radiation field can be characterized by radiance L(\vec,\hat,t) (\frac). Radiance is defined as energy flow per unit normal area per unit solid angle per unit time. Here, \vec denotes position, \hat denotes unit direction vector and t denotes time (Figure 1). Several other important physical quantities are based on the definition of radiance: *Fluence rate or inte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hybrid Theory For Photon Transport In Tissue
Within physics, the Hybrid Theory for photon transport in tissue uses the advantages and eliminates the deficiencies of both the Monte Carlo method and the diffusion theory for photon transport to model photons traveling through tissue both accurately and efficiently. MCML (Monte Carlo Modeling of Light Transportation in Multi-Layered Medium) The MCML is a numerical way to simulate photon transport in biological tissue. Each photon packet follows a random walk with persistence, where the direction of each step dependent on the direction of the previous step. By averaging multiple independent random walks, MCML estimates the ensemble-averaged quantities such as reflectance, transmittance, absorption, and fluence. Briefly, a packet of photon is first launched into the biological tissue. The parameters of photon transport, including the step size and deflection angle due to scattering, are determined by random sampling from probability distributions. A fraction of weight, determined ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monte Carlo Method For Photon Transport
Modeling photon propagation with Monte Carlo methods is a flexible yet rigorous approach to simulate photon transport. In the method, local rules of photon transport are expressed as probability distributions which describe the step size of photon movement between sites of photon-matter interaction and the angles of deflection in a photon's trajectory when a scattering event occurs. This is equivalent to modeling photon transport analytically by the radiative transfer equation (RTE), which describes the motion of photons using a differential equation. However, closed-form solutions of the RTE are often not possible; for some geometries, the diffusion approximation can be used to simplify the RTE, although this, in turn, introduces many inaccuracies, especially near sources and boundaries. In contrast, Monte Carlo simulations can be made arbitrarily accurate by increasing the number of photons traced. For example, see the movie, where a Monte Carlo simulation of a pencil beam inc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mean Free Path
In physics, mean free path is the average distance over which a moving particle (such as an atom, a molecule, or a photon) travels before substantially changing its direction or energy (or, in a specific context, other properties), typically as a result of one or more successive collisions with other particles. Scattering theory Imagine a beam of particles being shot through a target, and consider an infinitesimally thin slab of the target (see the figure). The atoms (or particles) that might stop a beam particle are shown in red. The magnitude of the mean free path depends on the characteristics of the system. Assuming that all the target particles are at rest but only the beam particle is moving, that gives an expression for the mean free path: :\ell = (\sigma n)^, where is the mean free path, is the number of target particles per unit volume, and is the effective cross-sectional area for collision. The area of the slab is , and its volume is . The typical number of st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pencil (optics)
In optics, a pencil or pencil of rays is a geometric construct used to describe a beam or portion of a beam of electromagnetic radiation or charged particles, typically in the form of a narrow beam (conical or cylindrical). Antennas which strongly bundle in azimuth and elevation are often described as "pencil-beam" antennas. For example, a phased array antenna can send out a beam that is extremely thin. Such antennas are used for tracking radar, and the process is known as beamforming. In optics, the focusing action of a lens is often described in terms of pencils of rays. In addition to conical and cylindrical pencils, optics deals with astigmatic pencils as well. In electron optics, scanning electron microscopes use narrow pencil beams to achieve a deep depth of field. Ionizing radiation used in radiation therapy, whether photons or charged particles, such as proton therapy and electron therapy machines, is sometimes delivered through the use of pencil beam scanning. In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ionizing Radiation
Ionizing radiation (or ionising radiation), including nuclear radiation, consists of subatomic particles or electromagnetic waves that have sufficient energy to ionize atoms or molecules by detaching electrons from them. Some particles can travel up to 99% of the speed of light, and the electromagnetic waves are on the high-energy portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. Gamma rays, X-rays, and the higher energy ultraviolet part of the electromagnetic spectrum are ionizing radiation, whereas the lower energy ultraviolet, visible light, nearly all types of laser light, infrared, microwaves, and radio waves are non-ionizing radiation. The boundary between ionizing and non-ionizing radiation in the ultraviolet area is not sharply defined, as different molecules and atoms ionize at different energies. The energy of ionizing radiation starts between 10 electronvolts (eV) and 33 eV. Typical ionizing subatomic particles include alpha particles, beta particles, and neutrons. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pencil (mathematics)
In geometry, a pencil is a family of geometric objects with a common property, for example the set of lines that pass through a given point in a plane, or the set of circles that pass through two given points in a plane. Although the definition of a pencil is rather vague, the common characteristic is that the pencil is completely determined by any two of its members. Analogously, a set of geometric objects that are determined by any three of its members is called a bundle. Thus, the set of all lines through a point in three-space is a bundle of lines, any two of which determine a pencil of lines. To emphasize the two dimensional nature of such a pencil, it is sometimes referred to as a ''flat pencil''. Any geometric object can be used in a pencil. The common ones are lines, planes, circles, conics, spheres, and general curves. Even points can be used. A pencil of points is the set of all points on a given line. A more common term for this set is a ''range'' of points. Penci ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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