1
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Alayande BT, Forbes CW, Iradakunda J, Majyambere JP, Hey MT, Powell BL, Perl J, McCall N, Paul T, Ingabire JA, Shimelash N, Mutabazi E, Kimto EO, Danladi GM, Tubasiime R, Rickard J, Karekezi C, Makiriro G, Bigirimana SP, Harelimana JG, ElSayed A, Ndibanje AJ, Mpirimbanyi C, Masimbi O, Ndayishimiye M, Ntabana F, Haonga BT, Anderson GA, Byringyiro JC, Ntirenganya F, Riviello RR, Bekele A. Determining Critical Topics for Undergraduate Surgical Education in Rwanda: Results of a Modified Delphi Process and a Consensus Conference. Cureus 2023; 15:e43625. [PMID: 37600431 PMCID: PMC10433784 DOI: 10.7759/cureus.43625] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 08/17/2023] [Indexed: 08/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Developing a contextually appropriate curriculum is critical to train physicians who can address surgical challenges in sub-Saharan Africa. An innovative modified Delphi process was used to identify contextually optimized curricular content to meet sub-Saharan Africa and Rwanda's surgical needs. Methods Participants were surgeons from East, Central, Southern, and West Africa and general practitioners with surgical experience. Delphi participants excluded or prioritized surgical topic areas generated from extensive grey and formal literature review. Surgical educators first screened and condensed identified topics. Round 1 screened and prioritized identified topics, with a 75% consensus cut-off based on the content validity index and a prioritization score. Topics that reached consensus were screened again in round 2 and re-prioritized, following controlled feedback. Frequencies for aggregate prioritization scores, experts in agreement, item-level content validity index, universal agreement and scale-level content validity index based on the average method (S-CVI/Ave) using proportion relevance, and intra-class correlation (ICC) (based on a mean-rating, consistency, two-way mixed-effects model) were performed. We also used arithmetic mean values and modal frequency. Cronbach's Alpha was also calculated to ascertain reliability. Results were validated through a multi-institution consensus conference attended by Rwanda-based surgical specialists, general practitioners, medical students, surgical educators, and surgical association representatives using an inclusive, participatory, collaborative, agreement-seeking, and cooperative, a priori consensus decision-making model. Results Two-hundred and sixty-seven broad surgical content areas were identified through the initial round and presented to experts. In round 2, a total of 247 (92%) content areas reached 75% consensus among 31 experts. Topics that did not achieve consensus consisted broadly of small intestinal malignancies, rare hepatobiliary pathologies, and transplantation. In the final round, 99.6% of content areas reached 75% consensus among 31 experts. The highest prioritization was on wound healing, fluid and electrolyte management, and appendicitis, followed by metabolic response, infection, preoperative preparation, antibiotics, small bowel obstruction and perforation, breast infection, acute urinary retention, testicular torsion, hemorrhoids, and surgical ethics. Overall, the consistency and average agreement between panel experts was strong. ICC was 0.856 (95% CI: 0.83-0.87). Cronbach's Alpha for round 2 was very strong (0.985, 95% CI: 0.976-0.991) and higher than round 1, demonstrating strong reliability. All 246 topics from round 4 were verbally accepted by 40 participants in open forum discussions during the consensus conference. Conclusions A modified Delphi process and consensus were able to identify essential topics to be included within a highly contextualized, locally driven surgical clerkship curriculum delivered in rural Rwanda. Other contexts can use similar processes to develop relevant curricula.
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Affiliation(s)
- Barnabas T Alayande
- General Surgery, Center for Equity in Global Surgery, University of Global Health Equity, Kigali, RWA
- Global Health and Social Medicine, Program in Global Surgery and Social Change, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA
- Global Health and Population, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, USA
| | - Callum W Forbes
- Anesthesiology, Center for Equity in Global Surgery, University of Global Health Equity, Kigali, RWA
- Global Health and Social Medicine, Program in Global Surgery and Social Change, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA
| | - Jules Iradakunda
- School of Medicine, Center for Equity in Global Surgery, University of Global Health Equity, Kigali, RWA
| | - Jean Paul Majyambere
- General Surgery, Center for Equity in Global Surgery, University of Global Health Equity, Kigali, RWA
- Surgery, Butaro District Hospital, Kigali, RWA
| | - Matthew T Hey
- Global Health and Social Medicine, Program in Global Surgery and Social Change, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA
| | - Brittany L Powell
- Surgery, Center for Equity in Global Surgery, University of Global Health Equity, Kigali, RWA
- Surgery, Center for Surgery and Public Health, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, USA
| | - Juliana Perl
- Biodesign, Center for Equity in Global Surgery, University of Global Health Equity, Kigali, RWA
| | - Natalie McCall
- Division of Clinical Medicine, University of Global Health Equity, Kigali, RWA
| | - Tomlin Paul
- Educational Development and Quality Center, University of Global Health Equity, Kigali, RWA
| | - Jc Allen Ingabire
- Surgery, School of Medicine and Pharmacy, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Rwanda, Kigali, RWA
| | - Natnael Shimelash
- Biodesign, Center for Equity in Global Surgery, University of Global Health Equity, Kigali, RWA
| | - Emmanuel Mutabazi
- Surgery, School of Medicine and Pharmacy, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Rwanda, Kigali, RWA
| | | | | | | | | | - Claire Karekezi
- Surgery, Neurosurgery Unit, Rwanda Military Hospital, Kigali, RWA
| | - Gabriel Makiriro
- Division of Clinical Medicine, University of Global Health Equity, Kigali, RWA
| | - Simon Pierre Bigirimana
- School of Medicine, Center for Equity in Global Surgery, University of Global Health Equity, Kigali, RWA
| | - James G Harelimana
- Surgery, School of Medicine and Pharmacy, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Rwanda, Kigali, RWA
| | | | | | | | - Ornella Masimbi
- Simulation, Center for Equity in Global Surgery, University of Global Health Equity, Kigali, RWA
| | | | - Frederick Ntabana
- Surgery, School of Medicine and Pharmacy, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Rwanda, Kigali, RWA
| | - Billy Thomson Haonga
- Orthopaedic Surgery, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, Dar es Salaam, TZA
| | - Geoffrey A Anderson
- Trauma, Burns, and Critical Care, Center for Equity in Global Surgery, University of Global Health Equity, Kigali, RWA
- Global Health and Social Medicine, Program in Global Surgery and Social Change, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA
- Surgery, Center for Surgery and Public Health, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, USA
| | - Jean Claude Byringyiro
- Surgery, School of Medicine and Pharmacy, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Rwanda, Kigali, RWA
- Orthopedics, University Teaching Hospital of Kigali, Kigali, RWA
| | - Faustin Ntirenganya
- Surgery, School of Medicine and Pharmacy, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Rwanda, Kigali, RWA
- Surgery, University Teaching Hospital of Kigali, Kigali, RWA
- NIHR Research Hub on Global Surgery, University of Rwanda, Kigali, RWA
| | - Robert R Riviello
- Trauma, Burns, and Critical Care, Center for Equity in Global Surgery, University of Global Health Equity, Kigali, RWA
- Global Health and Social Medicine, Program in Global Surgery and Social Change, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA
- Surgery, Center for Surgery and Public Health, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Kigali, RWA
| | - Abebe Bekele
- Cardiothoracic Surgery, Center for Equity in Global Surgery, University of Global Health Equity, Kigali, RWA
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Gu H, Perl J, Rhine W, Yamada NK, Sherman J, McMillin A, Halamek L, Wall JK, Fuerch JH. A Novel Method for Administering Epinephrine During Neonatal Resuscitation. Am J Perinatol 2023. [PMID: 37105225 DOI: 10.1055/a-2082-4729] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/29/2023]
Abstract
AIM OF THE STUDY To determine if prefilled epinephrine syringes will reduce time to epinephrine administration compared to conventional epinephrine during standardized simulated neonatal resuscitation. BACKGROUND Timely and accurate epinephrine administration during neonatal resuscitation is lifesaving in bradycardic infants. Current epinephrine preparation is inefficient and error-prone. For other emergency use drugs, prefilled medication syringes have decreased error and administration time. METHODS Twenty-one neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) nurses were enrolled. Each subject engaged in four simulated neonatal resuscitation scenarios involving term or preterm manikins using conventional epinephrine or novel prefilled epinephrine syringes specified for patient weight and administration route. All scenarios were video-recorded. Two investigators analyzed video-recordings for time to epinephrine preparation and administration. Differences between conventional and novel techniques were evaluated using Wilcoxon Signed Rank Tests. RESULTS Twenty-one subjects completed 42 scenarios with conventional epinephrine and 42 scenarios with novel prefilled syringes. Epinephrine preparation was faster using novel prefilled epinephrine syringes (median = 17.0 sec, IQR 13.3 - 22.8) compared to conventional epinephrine (median = 48.0 sec, IQR 40.5 - 54.9), n = 42, z = 5.64, p < 0.001. Epinephrine administration was also faster using novel prefilled epinephrine syringes (median = 26.9 sec, IQR 22.1 - 33.2) compared to conventional epinephrine (median 57.6 sec, IQR 48.8 - 66.8), n = 42, z = 5.63, p < 0.001. In a post-study survey, all subjects supported the clinical adoption of prefilled epinephrine syringes. CONCLUSIONS During simulated neonatal resuscitation, epinephrine preparation and administration are faster using novel prefilled epinephrine syringes, which may hasten return of spontaneous circulation and be lifesaving for bradycardic neonates in clinical practice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hannah Gu
- Division of Neonatology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, United States
| | - Juliana Perl
- Division of Pediatric Surgery, Stanford University, Palo Alto, United States
| | - William Rhine
- Division of Neonatal and Developmental Medicine, Stanford University, Palo Alto, United States
| | | | - Jules Sherman
- Research and Innovation, Children's National, Washington, United States
| | | | - Louis Halamek
- Pediatrics, Stanford University, Palo Alto, United States
| | - James K Wall
- Division of Pediatric Surgery, Lucile Salter Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford, Palo Alto, United States
| | - Janene H Fuerch
- Pediatrics / Neonatology, Stanford University, Palo Alto, United States
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Tharapanich H, Halue G, Kanjanabuch T, Phannajit J, Lorvinitnun P, Chieochanthanakij R, Treamtrakanpon W, Parinyasiri U, Lowmseng N, Songviriyavithaya P, Johnson D, Perl J, Pecoits-Filho R, Tungsanga K. WCN23-1055 CONSTIPATION AND CLINICAL OUTCOMES IN PERITONEAL DIALYSIS THAILAND RESULTS FROM PDOPPS. Kidney Int Rep 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ekir.2023.02.813] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/22/2023] Open
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Purisinsith S, Kanjanabuch P, Phannajit J, Kanjanabuch T, Puapatanakul P, Johnson D, Perl J, Robinson B, Tungsanga K. POS-835 ORAL HEALTH-RELATED QUALITY OF LIFE (OHRQoL), A PROXY OF POOR OUTCOMES IN PATIENTS ON PERITONEAL DIALYSIS. Kidney Int Rep 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ekir.2022.01.872] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
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Ramos-Méndez J, LaVerne JA, Domínguez-Kondo N, Milligan J, Štěpán V, Stefanová K, Perrot Y, Villagrasa C, Shin WG, Incerti S, McNamara A, Paganetti H, Perl J, Schuemann J, Faddegon B. TOPAS-nBio validation for simulating water radiolysis and DNA damage under low-LET irradiation. Phys Med Biol 2021; 66. [PMID: 34412044 DOI: 10.1088/1361-6560/ac1f39] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2021] [Accepted: 08/19/2021] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Abstract
The chemical stage of the Monte Carlo track-structure simulation code Geant4-DNA has been revised and validated. The root-mean-square (RMS) empirical parameter that dictates the displacement of water molecules after an ionization and excitation event in Geant4-DNA has been shortened to better fit experimental data. The pre-defined dissociation channels and branching ratios were not modified, but the reaction rate coefficients for simulating the chemical stage of water radiolysis were updated. The evaluation of Geant4-DNA was accomplished with TOPAS-nBio. For that, we compared predicted time-dependentGvalues in pure liquid water for·OH, e-aq, and H2with published experimental data. For H2O2and H·, simulation of added scavengers at different concentrations resulted in better agreement with measurements. In addition, DNA geometry information was integrated with chemistry simulation in TOPAS-nBio to realize reactions between radiolytic chemical species and DNA. This was used in the estimation of the yield of single-strand breaks (SSB) induced by137Csγ-ray radiolysis of supercoiled pUC18 plasmids dissolved in aerated solutions containing DMSO. The efficiency of SSB induction by reaction between radiolytic species and DNA used in the simulation was chosen to provide the best agreement with published measurements. An RMS displacement of 1.24 nm provided agreement with measured data within experimental uncertainties for time-dependentGvalues and under the presence of scavengers. SSB efficiencies of 24% and 0.5% for·OH and H·, respectively, led to an overall agreement of TOPAS-nBio results within experimental uncertainties. The efficiencies obtained agreed with values obtained with published non-homogeneous kinetic model and step-by-step Monte Carlo simulations but disagreed by 12% with published direct measurements. Improvement of the spatial resolution of the DNA damage model might mitigate such disagreement. In conclusion, with these improvements, Geant4-DNA/TOPAS-nBio provides a fast, accurate, and user-friendly tool for simulating DNA damage under low linear energy transfer irradiation.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Ramos-Méndez
- Department of Radiation Oncology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94115, United States of America
| | - J A LaVerne
- Radiation Laboratory and Department of Physics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, United States of America
| | - N Domínguez-Kondo
- Facultad de Ciencias Físico Matemáticas, Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Puebla 72000, Mexico
| | - J Milligan
- Department of Basic Sciences, School of Medicine, Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, CA, 92350, United States of America
| | - V Štěpán
- Department of Radiation Dosimetry, Nuclear Physics Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - K Stefanová
- Department of Radiation Dosimetry, Nuclear Physics Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Y Perrot
- Laboratoire de Dosimétrie des Rayonnements Ionisants, Institut de Radioprotection et Sûreté Nucléaire, Fontenay aux Roses, BP. 17, F-92262, France
| | - C Villagrasa
- Laboratoire de Dosimétrie des Rayonnements Ionisants, Institut de Radioprotection et Sûreté Nucléaire, Fontenay aux Roses, BP. 17, F-92262, France
| | - W-G Shin
- Department of Radiation Oncology, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul 03080, Republic of Korea
| | - S Incerti
- Univ. Bordeaux, CNRS, CENBG, UMR 5797, F-33170 Gradignan, France
| | - A McNamara
- Department of Radiation Oncology, Physics Division, Massachusetts General Hospital & Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States of America
| | - H Paganetti
- Department of Radiation Oncology, Physics Division, Massachusetts General Hospital & Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States of America
| | - J Perl
- SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, CA, United States of America
| | - J Schuemann
- Department of Radiation Oncology, Physics Division, Massachusetts General Hospital & Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States of America
| | - B Faddegon
- Department of Radiation Oncology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94115, United States of America
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Skinner L, Niedermayr T, Perl J, Prionas N, Benjamin F, Kidd E. OC-1036: Intensity Modulated Ir-192 Brachytherapy Using 3D Printed Shielded Applicators. Radiother Oncol 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/s0167-8140(21)01975-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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ROPE R, Perl J, Anand S. SUN-340 GLOBAL HEALTH TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES IN NORTH AMERICAN NEPHROLOGY FELLOWSHIPS. Kidney Int Rep 2019. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ekir.2019.05.751] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022] Open
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Kim Y, Oh K, Park S, Robinson B, Pisoni R, Bieber B, Albert J, Leslie J, Zhao J, Perl J. MON-077 EXPLORING THE STATUS OF PERITONEAL DIALYSIS PRACTICES AND OUTCOMES IN SOUTH KOREA: PARTICIPATION IN THE PERITONEAL DIALYSIS OUTCOMES AND PRACTICE PATTERNS STUDY. Kidney Int Rep 2019. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ekir.2019.05.866] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
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Perl J, Fuller D, Boudville N, Pisoni R, Johnson D. SUN-079 INTERNATIONAL VARIATION IN PERITONEAL DIALYSIS-RELATED PERITONITIS RATES AND CLINICAL OUTCOMES: THE PERITONEAL DIALYSIS OUTCOMES AND PRACTICE PATTERNS STUDY (PDOPPS). Kidney Int Rep 2019. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ekir.2019.05.476] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022] Open
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Schuemann J, McNamara AL, Ramos-Méndez J, Perl J, Held KD, Paganetti H, Incerti S, Faddegon B. TOPAS-nBio: An Extension to the TOPAS Simulation Toolkit for Cellular and Sub-cellular Radiobiology. Radiat Res 2019; 191:125-138. [PMID: 30609382 DOI: 10.1667/rr15226.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 104] [Impact Index Per Article: 20.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
The TOPAS Monte Carlo (MC) system is used in radiation therapy and medical imaging research, having played a significant role in making Monte Carlo simulations widely available for proton therapy related research. While TOPAS provides detailed simulations of patient scale properties, the fundamental unit of the biological response to radiation is a cell. Thus, our goal was to develop TOPAS-nBio, an extension of TOPAS dedicated to advance understanding of radiobiological effects at the (sub-)cellular, (i.e., the cellular and sub-cellular) scale. TOPAS-nBio was designed as a set of open source classes that extends TOPAS to model radiobiological experiments. TOPAS-nBio is based on and extends Geant4-DNA, which extends the Geant4 toolkit, the basis of TOPAS, to include very low-energy interactions of particles down to vibrational energies, explicitly simulates every particle interaction (i.e., without using condensed histories) and propagates radiolysis products. To further facilitate the use of TOPAS-nBio, a graphical user interface was developed. TOPAS-nBio offers full track-structure Monte Carlo simulations, integration of chemical reactions within the first millisecond, an extensive catalogue of specialized cell geometries as well as sub-cellular structures such as DNA and mitochondria, and interfaces to mechanistic models of DNA repair kinetics. We compared TOPAS-nBio simulations to measured and published data of energy deposition patterns and chemical reaction rates (G values). Our simulations agreed well within the experimental uncertainties. Additionally, we expanded the chemical reactions and species provided in Geant4-DNA and developed a new method based on independent reaction times (IRT), including a total of 72 reactions classified into 6 types between neutral and charged species. Chemical stage simulations using IRT were a factor of 145 faster than with step-by-step tracking. Finally, we applied the geometric/chemical modeling to obtain initial yields of double-strand breaks (DSBs) in DNA fibers for proton irradiations of 3 and 50 MeV and compared the effect of including chemical reactions on the number and complexity of DSB induction. Over half of the DSBs were found to include chemical reactions with approximately 5% of DSBs caused only by chemical reactions. In conclusion, the TOPAS-nBio extension to the TOPAS MC application offers access to accurate and detailed multiscale simulations, from a macroscopic description of the radiation field to microscopic description of biological outcome for selected cells. TOPAS-nBio offers detailed physics and chemistry simulations of radiobiological experiments on cells simulating the initially induced damage and links to models of DNA repair kinetics.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Schuemann
- a Department of Radiation Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - A L McNamara
- a Department of Radiation Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - J Ramos-Méndez
- b Department of Radiation Oncology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California
| | - J Perl
- c SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California
| | - K D Held
- a Department of Radiation Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - H Paganetti
- a Department of Radiation Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - S Incerti
- d CNRS, IN2P3, CENBG, UMR 5797, F-33170 Gradignan, France.,e University of Bordeaux, CENBG, UMR 5797, F-33170 Gradignan, France
| | - B Faddegon
- b Department of Radiation Oncology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California
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Schuemann J, McNamara AL, Warmenhoven JW, Henthorn NT, Kirkby KJ, Merchant MJ, Ingram S, Paganetti H, Held KD, Ramos-Mendez J, Faddegon B, Perl J, Goodhead DT, Plante I, Rabus H, Nettelbeck H, Friedland W, Kundrát P, Ottolenghi A, Baiocco G, Barbieri S, Dingfelder M, Incerti S, Villagrasa C, Bueno M, Bernal MA, Guatelli S, Sakata D, Brown JMC, Francis Z, Kyriakou I, Lampe N, Ballarini F, Carante MP, Davídková M, Štěpán V, Jia X, Cucinotta FA, Schulte R, Stewart RD, Carlson DJ, Galer S, Kuncic Z, Lacombe S, Milligan J, Cho SH, Sawakuchi G, Inaniwa T, Sato T, Li W, Solov'yov AV, Surdutovich E, Durante M, Prise KM, McMahon SJ. A New Standard DNA Damage (SDD) Data Format. Radiat Res 2018; 191:76-92. [PMID: 30407901 DOI: 10.1667/rr15209.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
Our understanding of radiation-induced cellular damage has greatly improved over the past few decades. Despite this progress, there are still many obstacles to fully understand how radiation interacts with biologically relevant cellular components, such as DNA, to cause observable end points such as cell killing. Damage in DNA is identified as a major route of cell killing. One hurdle when modeling biological effects is the difficulty in directly comparing results generated by members of different research groups. Multiple Monte Carlo codes have been developed to simulate damage induction at the DNA scale, while at the same time various groups have developed models that describe DNA repair processes with varying levels of detail. These repair models are intrinsically linked to the damage model employed in their development, making it difficult to disentangle systematic effects in either part of the modeling chain. These modeling chains typically consist of track-structure Monte Carlo simulations of the physical interactions creating direct damages to DNA, followed by simulations of the production and initial reactions of chemical species causing so-called "indirect" damages. After the induction of DNA damage, DNA repair models combine the simulated damage patterns with biological models to determine the biological consequences of the damage. To date, the effect of the environment, such as molecular oxygen (normoxic vs. hypoxic), has been poorly considered. We propose a new standard DNA damage (SDD) data format to unify the interface between the simulation of damage induction in DNA and the biological modeling of DNA repair processes, and introduce the effect of the environment (molecular oxygen or other compounds) as a flexible parameter. Such a standard greatly facilitates inter-model comparisons, providing an ideal environment to tease out model assumptions and identify persistent, underlying mechanisms. Through inter-model comparisons, this unified standard has the potential to greatly advance our understanding of the underlying mechanisms of radiation-induced DNA damage and the resulting observable biological effects when radiation parameters and/or environmental conditions change.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Schuemann
- a Department of Radiation Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - A L McNamara
- a Department of Radiation Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - J W Warmenhoven
- b Division of Cancer Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom
| | - N T Henthorn
- b Division of Cancer Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom
| | - K J Kirkby
- b Division of Cancer Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom
| | - M J Merchant
- b Division of Cancer Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom
| | - S Ingram
- b Division of Cancer Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom
| | - H Paganetti
- a Department of Radiation Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - K D Held
- a Department of Radiation Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - J Ramos-Mendez
- c Department of Radiation Oncology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California
| | - B Faddegon
- c Department of Radiation Oncology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California
| | - J Perl
- d SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California
| | - D T Goodhead
- e Medical Research Council, Harwell, United Kingdom
| | | | - H Rabus
- g Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Braunschweig, Germany.,h Task Group 6.2 "Computational Micro- and Nanodosimetry", European Radiation Dosimetry Group e.V., Neuherberg, Germany
| | - H Nettelbeck
- g Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Braunschweig, Germany.,h Task Group 6.2 "Computational Micro- and Nanodosimetry", European Radiation Dosimetry Group e.V., Neuherberg, Germany
| | - W Friedland
- h Task Group 6.2 "Computational Micro- and Nanodosimetry", European Radiation Dosimetry Group e.V., Neuherberg, Germany.,i Institute of Radiation Protection, Helmholtz Zentrum München - German Research Center for Environmental Health, Neuherberg, Germany
| | - P Kundrát
- i Institute of Radiation Protection, Helmholtz Zentrum München - German Research Center for Environmental Health, Neuherberg, Germany
| | - A Ottolenghi
- j Physics Department, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
| | - G Baiocco
- h Task Group 6.2 "Computational Micro- and Nanodosimetry", European Radiation Dosimetry Group e.V., Neuherberg, Germany.,j Physics Department, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
| | - S Barbieri
- h Task Group 6.2 "Computational Micro- and Nanodosimetry", European Radiation Dosimetry Group e.V., Neuherberg, Germany.,j Physics Department, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
| | - M Dingfelder
- k Department of Physics, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina
| | - S Incerti
- l CNRS, IN2P3, CENBG, UMR 5797, F-33170 Gradignan, France.,m University of Bordeaux, CENBG, UMR 5797, F-33170 Gradignan, France
| | - C Villagrasa
- h Task Group 6.2 "Computational Micro- and Nanodosimetry", European Radiation Dosimetry Group e.V., Neuherberg, Germany.,n Institut de Radioprotection et Sûreté Nucléaire, F-92262 Fontenay aux Roses Cedex, France
| | - M Bueno
- n Institut de Radioprotection et Sûreté Nucléaire, F-92262 Fontenay aux Roses Cedex, France
| | - M A Bernal
- o Applied Physics Department, Gleb Wataghin Institute of Physics, State University of Campinas, Campinas, SP, Brazil
| | - S Guatelli
- p Centre for Medical Radiation Physics, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, Australia
| | - D Sakata
- p Centre for Medical Radiation Physics, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, Australia
| | - J M C Brown
- q Department of Radiation Science and Technology, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands
| | - Z Francis
- r Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Saint Joseph University, Beirut, Lebanon
| | - I Kyriakou
- s Medical Physics Laboratory, University of Ioannina Medical School, Ioannina, Greece
| | - N Lampe
- l CNRS, IN2P3, CENBG, UMR 5797, F-33170 Gradignan, France
| | - F Ballarini
- j Physics Department, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy.,t Italian National Institute of Nuclear Physics, Section of Pavia, I-27100 Pavia, Italy
| | - M P Carante
- j Physics Department, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy.,t Italian National Institute of Nuclear Physics, Section of Pavia, I-27100 Pavia, Italy
| | - M Davídková
- u Department of Radiation Dosimetry, Nuclear Physics Institute of the CAS, Řež, Czech Republic
| | - V Štěpán
- u Department of Radiation Dosimetry, Nuclear Physics Institute of the CAS, Řež, Czech Republic
| | - X Jia
- v Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas
| | - F A Cucinotta
- w Health Physics and Diagnostic Sciences, University of Nevada Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada
| | - R Schulte
- x Division of Biomedical Engineering Sciences, School of Medicine, Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, California
| | - R D Stewart
- y Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
| | - D J Carlson
- z Department of Therapeutic Radiology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut
| | - S Galer
- aa Medical Radiation Science Group, National Physical Laboratory, Teddington, United Kingdom
| | - Z Kuncic
- bb School of Physics, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - S Lacombe
- cc Institut des Sciences Moléculaires d'Orsay (UMR 8214) University Paris-Sud, CNRS, University Paris-Saclay, 91405 Orsay Cedex, France
| | | | - S H Cho
- ee Department of Radiation Physics and Imaging Physics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
| | - G Sawakuchi
- ee Department of Radiation Physics and Imaging Physics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
| | - T Inaniwa
- ff Department of Accelerator and Medical Physics, National Institute of Radiological Sciences, Chiba, Japan
| | - T Sato
- gg Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Nuclear Science and Engineering Center, Tokai 319-1196, Japan
| | - W Li
- i Institute of Radiation Protection, Helmholtz Zentrum München - German Research Center for Environmental Health, Neuherberg, Germany.,hh Task Group 7.7 "Internal Micro- and Nanodosimetry", European Radiation Dosimetry Group e.V., Neuherberg, Germany
| | - A V Solov'yov
- ii MBN Research Center, 60438 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - E Surdutovich
- jj Department of Physics, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan
| | - M Durante
- kk GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung, Biophysics Department, Darmstadt, Germany
| | - K M Prise
- ll Centre for Cancer Research and Cell Biology, Queens University Belfast, Belfast, United Kingdom
| | - S J McMahon
- ll Centre for Cancer Research and Cell Biology, Queens University Belfast, Belfast, United Kingdom
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Abstract
Simulation of water radiolysis and the subsequent chemistry provides important information on the effect of ionizing radiation on biological material. The Geant4 Monte Carlo toolkit has added chemical processes via the Geant4-DNA project. The TOPAS tool simplifies the modeling of complex radiotherapy applications with Geant4 without requiring advanced computational skills, extending the pool of users. Thus, a new extension to TOPAS, TOPAS-nBio, is under development to facilitate the configuration of track-structure simulations as well as water radiolysis simulations with Geant4-DNA for radiobiological studies. In this work, radiolysis simulations were implemented in TOPAS-nBio. Users may now easily add chemical species and their reactions, and set parameters including branching ratios, dissociation schemes, diffusion coefficients, and reaction rates. In addition, parameters for the chemical stage were re-evaluated and updated from those used by default in Geant4-DNA to improve the accuracy of chemical yields. Simulation results of time-dependent and LET-dependent primary yields Gx (chemical species per 100 eV deposited) produced at neutral pH and 25 °C by short track-segments of charged particles were compared to published measurements. The LET range was 0.05-230 keV µm-1. The calculated Gx values for electrons satisfied the material balance equation within 0.3%, similar for protons albeit with long calculation time. A smaller geometry was used to speed up proton and alpha simulations, with an acceptable difference in the balance equation of 1.3%. Available experimental data of time-dependent G-values for [Formula: see text] agreed with simulated results within 7% ± 8% over the entire time range; for [Formula: see text] over the full time range within 3% ± 4%; for H2O2 from 49% ± 7% at earliest stages and 3% ± 12% at saturation. For the LET-dependent Gx, the mean ratios to the experimental data were 1.11 ± 0.98, 1.21 ± 1.11, 1.05 ± 0.52, 1.23 ± 0.59 and 1.49 ± 0.63 (1 standard deviation) for [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], H2, H2O2 and [Formula: see text], respectively. In conclusion, radiolysis and subsequent chemistry with Geant4-DNA has been successfully incorporated in TOPAS-nBio. Results are in reasonable agreement with published measured and simulated data.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Ramos-Méndez
- Department of Radiation Oncology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States of America. Author to whom any correspondence should be addressed
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Abstract
Purpose: Aneurysms of the upper extremity arteries are uncommon and may be difficult to manage with standard surgical techniques. We report the exclusion of three axillary-subclavian aneurysms with covered stents. Methods and Results: Palmaz stents were covered with either polytetrafluoroethylene (2 cases) or brachial vein and deployed to exclude pseudoaneurysms in 1 axillary (ruptured) and 2 left subclavian arteries. Two of the patients had advanced cancer and died within 52 days and 3 months of treatment, but their aneurysms were occluded at the time of their death. The repair in the third patient is patent at 9 months. Conclusions: Endovascular exclusion of axillary and subclavian aneurysms with covered stents may offer a useful alternative to operative repair, particularly in patients with significant comorbidities.
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Affiliation(s)
- T M Sullivan
- Department of Vascular Surgery, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Ohio 44195, USA
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McNamara A, Perl J, Piersimoni P, Ramos-Mendez J, Faddegon B, Held K, Paganetti H, Schuemann J. WE-H-BRA-04: Biological Geometries for the Monte Carlo Simulation Toolkit TOPASNBio. Med Phys 2016. [DOI: 10.1118/1.4957995] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
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Hall D, Perl J, Schuemann J, Faddegon B, Paganetti H. SU-F-T-139: Meeting the Challenges of Quality Control in the TOPAS Monte Carlo Simulation Toolkit for Proton Therapy. Med Phys 2016. [DOI: 10.1118/1.4956275] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
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Ramos-Méndez J, Perl J, Schümann J, Shin J, Paganetti H, Faddegon B. A framework for implementation of organ effect models in TOPAS with benchmarks extended to proton therapy. Phys Med Biol 2015; 60:5037-52. [PMID: 26061583 DOI: 10.1088/0031-9155/60/13/5037] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
Abstract
The aim of this work was to develop a framework for modeling organ effects within TOPAS (TOol for PArticle Simulation), a wrapper of the Geant4 Monte Carlo toolkit that facilitates particle therapy simulation. The DICOM interface for TOPAS was extended to permit contour input, used to assign voxels to organs. The following dose response models were implemented: The Lyman-Kutcher-Burman model, the critical element model, the population based critical volume model, the parallel-serial model, a sigmoid-based model of Niemierko for normal tissue complication probability and tumor control probability (TCP), and a Poisson-based model for TCP. The framework allows easy manipulation of the parameters of these models and the implementation of other models. As part of the verification, results for the parallel-serial and Poisson model for x-ray irradiation of a water phantom were compared to data from the AAPM Task Group 166. When using the task group dose-volume histograms (DVHs), results were found to be sensitive to the number of points in the DVH, with differences up to 2.4%, some of which are attributable to differences between the implemented models. New results are given with the point spacing specified. When using Monte Carlo calculations with TOPAS, despite the relatively good match to the published DVH's, differences up to 9% were found for the parallel-serial model (for a maximum DVH difference of 2%) and up to 0.5% for the Poisson model (for a maximum DVH difference of 0.5%). However, differences of 74.5% (in Rectangle1), 34.8% (in PTV) and 52.1% (in Triangle) for the critical element, critical volume and the sigmoid-based models were found respectively. We propose a new benchmark for verification of organ effect models in proton therapy. The benchmark consists of customized structures in the spread out Bragg peak plateau, normal tissue, tumor, penumbra and in the distal region. The DVH's, DVH point spacing, and results of the organ effect models are provided. The models were used to calculate dose response for a Head and Neck patient to demonstrate functionality of the new framework and indicate the degree of variability between the models in proton therapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Ramos-Méndez
- Deparment of Radiation Oncology, University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA
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Méndez JR, Perl J, Schümann J, Shin J, Paganetti H, Faddegon B. Improved efficiency in Monte Carlo simulation for passive-scattering proton therapy. Phys Med Biol 2015; 60:5019-35. [PMID: 26061457 DOI: 10.1088/0031-9155/60/13/5019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
The aim of this work was to improve the computational efficiency of Monte Carlo simulations when tracking protons through a proton therapy treatment head. Two proton therapy facilities were considered, the Francis H Burr Proton Therapy Center (FHBPTC) at the Massachusetts General Hospital and the Crocker Lab eye treatment facility used by University of California at San Francisco (UCSFETF). The computational efficiency was evaluated for phase space files scored at the exit of the treatment head to determine optimal parameters to improve efficiency while maintaining accuracy in the dose calculation. For FHBPTC, particles were split by a factor of 8 upstream of the second scatterer and upstream of the aperture. The radius of the region for Russian roulette was set to 2.5 or 1.5 times the radius of the aperture and a secondary particle production cut (PC) of 50 mm was applied. For UCSFETF, particles were split a factor of 16 upstream of a water absorber column and upstream of the aperture. Here, the radius of the region for Russian roulette was set to 4 times the radius of the aperture and a PC of 0.05 mm was applied. In both setups, the cylindrical symmetry of the proton beam was exploited to position the split particles randomly spaced around the beam axis. When simulating a phase space for subsequent water phantom simulations, efficiency gains between a factor of 19.9 ± 0.1 and 52.21 ± 0.04 for the FHTPC setups and 57.3 ± 0.5 for the UCSFETF setups were obtained. For a phase space used as input for simulations in a patient geometry, the gain was a factor of 78.6 ± 7.5. Lateral-dose curves in water were within the accepted clinical tolerance of 2%, with statistical uncertainties of 0.5% for the two facilities. For the patient geometry and by considering the 2% and 2mm criteria, 98.4% of the voxels showed a gamma index lower than unity. An analysis of the dose distribution resulted in systematic deviations below of 0.88% for 20% of the voxels with dose of 20% of the maximum or more.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Ramos Méndez
- Department of Radiation Oncology, University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA
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Ramos-Mendez J, Perl J, Schuemann J, Shin J, Paganetti H, Faddegon B. SU-E-T-466: Implementation of An Extension Module for Dose Response Models in the TOPAS Monte Carlo Toolkit. Med Phys 2015. [DOI: 10.1118/1.4924828] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
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Perl J, Villagomez-Bernabe B, Currell F. MO-DE-BRA-03: TOPAS_edu: A Window Into the Stochastic World Through the TOPAS Tool for Particle Simulation. Med Phys 2015. [DOI: 10.1118/1.4925338] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
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Testa M, Schümann J, Lu HM, Shin J, Faddegon B, Perl J, Paganetti H. Experimental validation of the TOPAS Monte Carlo system for passive scattering proton therapy. Med Phys 2014; 40:121719. [PMID: 24320505 DOI: 10.1118/1.4828781] [Citation(s) in RCA: 83] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
Abstract
PURPOSE TOPAS (TOol for PArticle Simulation) is a particle simulation code recently developed with the specific aim of making Monte Carlo simulations user-friendly for research and clinical physicists in the particle therapy community. The authors present a thorough and extensive experimental validation of Monte Carlo simulations performed with TOPAS in a variety of setups relevant for proton therapy applications. The set of validation measurements performed in this work represents an overall end-to-end testing strategy recommended for all clinical centers planning to rely on TOPAS for quality assurance or patient dose calculation and, more generally, for all the institutions using passive-scattering proton therapy systems. METHODS The authors systematically compared TOPAS simulations with measurements that are performed routinely within the quality assurance (QA) program in our institution as well as experiments specifically designed for this validation study. First, the authors compared TOPAS simulations with measurements of depth-dose curves for spread-out Bragg peak (SOBP) fields. Second, absolute dosimetry simulations were benchmarked against measured machine output factors (OFs). Third, the authors simulated and measured 2D dose profiles and analyzed the differences in terms of field flatness and symmetry and usable field size. Fourth, the authors designed a simple experiment using a half-beam shifter to assess the effects of multiple Coulomb scattering, beam divergence, and inverse square attenuation on lateral and longitudinal dose profiles measured and simulated in a water phantom. Fifth, TOPAS' capabilities to simulate time dependent beam delivery was benchmarked against dose rate functions (i.e., dose per unit time vs time) measured at different depths inside an SOBP field. Sixth, simulations of the charge deposited by protons fully stopping in two different types of multilayer Faraday cups (MLFCs) were compared with measurements to benchmark the nuclear interaction models used in the simulations. RESULTS SOBPs' range and modulation width were reproduced, on average, with an accuracy of +1, -2 and ±3 mm, respectively. OF simulations reproduced measured data within ±3%. Simulated 2D dose-profiles show field flatness and average field radius within ±3% of measured profiles. The field symmetry resulted, on average in ±3% agreement with commissioned profiles. TOPAS accuracy in reproducing measured dose profiles downstream the half beam shifter is better than 2%. Dose rate function simulation reproduced the measurements within ∼2% showing that the four-dimensional modeling of the passively modulation system was implement correctly and millimeter accuracy can be achieved in reproducing measured data. For MLFCs simulations, 2% agreement was found between TOPAS and both sets of experimental measurements. The overall results show that TOPAS simulations are within the clinical accepted tolerances for all QA measurements performed at our institution. CONCLUSIONS Our Monte Carlo simulations reproduced accurately the experimental data acquired through all the measurements performed in this study. Thus, TOPAS can reliably be applied to quality assurance for proton therapy and also as an input for commissioning of commercial treatment planning systems. This work also provides the basis for routine clinical dose calculations in patients for all passive scattering proton therapy centers using TOPAS.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Testa
- Department of Radiation Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard University Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02114
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Schuemann J, Giantsoudi D, Rinaldi I, Perl J, Faddegon B, Paganetti H. TH-A-19A-02: Expanding TOPAS Towards Biological Modeling. Med Phys 2014. [DOI: 10.1118/1.4889535] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
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Perl J, Shin J, Schuemann J, Paganetti H, Faddegon B. TU-A-108-01: Four-Dimensional Monte Carlo Using the TOPAS TOol for PArticle Simulation. Med Phys 2013. [DOI: 10.1118/1.4815324] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
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Ramos-Mendez J, Perl J, Schuemann J, Shin J, Faddegon B, Paganetti H. WE-C-108-07: Optimal Parameters for Variance Reduction in Monte Carlo Simulations for Proton Therapy. Med Phys 2013. [DOI: 10.1118/1.4815530] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
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Griva K, Mooppil N, Pala Krishnan DS, McBain H, Newman SP, Tripepi G, Pannier B, Mallamaci F, London G, Zoccali C, Sood M, Manns B, Kappel J, Naimark D, Dart A, Komenda P, Rigatto C, Hiebert B, Tangri N, Perl J, Karaboyas A, Tentori F, Morgenstern H, Sen A, Rayner H, Vanholder R, Combe C, Hasegawa T, Mapes D, Robinson B, Pisoni R, Tentori F, Zepel L, Karaboyas A, Mendelssohn D, Ikizler T, Pisoni R, Fukuhara S, Gillespie B, Bieber B, Robinson B, Wilkie M, Karaboyas A, Rayner H, Fluck R, Morgenstern H, Li Y, Kerr P, Mendelssohn D, Wikstrom B, Tentori F, Pisoni R, Robinson B, Vanita Jassal S, Comment L, Karaboyas A, Bieber B, Morgenstern H, Sen A, De Sequera P, Marshall M, Fukuhara S, Robinson B, Pisoni R, Jin HM, Pan Y, Raimann JG, Etter M, Kooman J, Levin N, Marcelli D, Marelli C, van der Sande F, Thijssen S, Usvyat L, Kotanko P, Lu KC, Yang HY, Su SL, Palmer S, Saglimbene V, Ruospo M, Craig J, Celia E, Gelfman R, Stroumza P, Bednarek A, Dulawa J, Frazao J, Del Castillo D, Ecder T, Hegbrant J, Strippoli GFM, Hecking M, Bieber B, Ethier J, Kautzky-Willer A, Jadoul M, Saito A, Sunder-Plassmann G, Saemann M, Gillespie B, Horl W, Mariani L, Ramirez S, Pisoni R, Robinson B, Port F, Mallamaci F, Tripepi G, Leonardis D, Zoccali C, Fukuma S, Akizawa T, Akiba T, Saito A, Kurokawa K, Fukuhara S, Pannier B, Tripepi G, Mallamaci F, Zoccali C, London G, Stack AG, Casserly LF, Abdalla AA, Murthy BVR, Hegarty A, Cronin CJ, Hannigan A, Shaw C, Pitcher D, Sandford R, Spoto B, Pizzini P, Cutrupi S, D'Arrigo G, Tripepi G, Zoccali C, Mallamaci F, Ghalia K, Gubensek J, Arnol M, Ponikvar R, Buturovic-Ponikvar J, Palmer S, de Berardis G, Craig JC, Pellegrini F, Ruospo M, Tong A, Tonelli M, Hegbrant J, Strippoli GFM, Pizzini P, Torino C, Cutrupi S, Spoto B, D'Arrigo G, Tripepi R, Tripepi G, Zoccali C, Mallamaci F, von Gersdorff G, Usvyat L, Schaller M, Wong M, Thijssen S, Marcelli D, Barth C, Kotanko P, Torino C, D'Arrigo G, Postorino M, Tripepi G, Mallamaci F, Zoccali C, Chanouzas D, Ng KP, Baharani J, Endo M, Nakamura Y, Hara M, Murakami T, Tsukahara H, Watanabe Y, Matsuoka Y, Fujita K, Inoue M, Simizu T, Gotoh H, Goto Y, Delanaye P, Cavalier E, Moranne O, Krzesinski JM, Warling X, Smelten N, Pottel H, Schneider S, Malecki AK, Haller HG, Boenisch O, Kielstein JT, Movilli E, Camerini C, Gaggia P, Zubani R, Feller P, Poiatti P, Pola A, Carli O, Valzorio B, Possenti S, Bregoli L, Foini P, Cancarini G, Palmer S, Ruospo M, Natale P, Gargano L, Saglimbene V, Pellegrini F, Johnson DW, Craig JC, Hegbrant J, Strippoli GFM, Brunelli S, Krishnan M, Van Wyck D, Provenzano R, Goykhman I, Patel C, Nissenson A, De Mauri A, Conte MM, Chiarinotti D, David P, Capurro F, De Leo M, Postorino M, Marino C, Vilasi A, Tripepi G, Zoccali C, Dialysis C, Helps A, Edwards G, Mactier R, Coia J, Abe Y, Ito K, Ogahara S, Sasatomi Y, Saito T, Nakashima H, Jean-Charles C, Morgane V, Leila P, Carole S, Pierre-Louis C, Philippe Z, Jean-Francois T, Couchoud C, Dantony E, Guerrin MH, Villar E, Ecochard R, Nishi S, Goto S, Nakai K, Kono K, Yonekura Y, Ito J, Fujii H, Korkmaz S, Ersoy A, Gulten S, Ercan I, Koca N, Serdengecti K, Suleymanlar G, Altiparmak M, Seyahi N, Jager K, Trabulus S, Erek E, Cobo Jaramillo G, Gallar P, Di Gioia C, Rodriguez I, Ortega O, Herrero JC, Oliet A, Vigil A, Pechter U, Luman M, Ilmoja M, Sinimae E, Auerbach A, Lilienthal K, Kallaste M, Sepp K, Piel L, Seppet E, Muliin M, Telling K, Seppet E, Kolvald K, Veermae K, Ots-Rosenberg M, Ambrus C, Kerkovits L, Szegedi J, Benke A, Toth E, Nagy L, Borbas B, Rozinka A, Nemeth J, Varga G, Kulcsar I, Gergely L, Szakony S, Kiss I, Koo JR, Choi MJ, Yoon MH, Park JY, No EY, Seo JW, Lee YK, Noh JW. Epidemiology - CKD 5D II. Nephrol Dial Transplant 2013. [DOI: 10.1093/ndt/gft151] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
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Perl J, Shin J, Schumann J, Faddegon B, Paganetti H. TOPAS: an innovative proton Monte Carlo platform for research and clinical applications. Med Phys 2013; 39:6818-37. [PMID: 23127075 DOI: 10.1118/1.4758060] [Citation(s) in RCA: 565] [Impact Index Per Article: 51.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
Abstract
PURPOSE While Monte Carlo particle transport has proven useful in many areas (treatment head design, dose calculation, shielding design, and imaging studies) and has been particularly important for proton therapy (due to the conformal dose distributions and a finite beam range in the patient), the available general purpose Monte Carlo codes in proton therapy have been overly complex for most clinical medical physicists. The learning process has large costs not only in time but also in reliability. To address this issue, we developed an innovative proton Monte Carlo platform and tested the tool in a variety of proton therapy applications. METHODS Our approach was to take one of the already-established general purpose Monte Carlo codes and wrap and extend it to create a specialized user-friendly tool for proton therapy. The resulting tool, TOol for PArticle Simulation (TOPAS), should make Monte Carlo simulation more readily available for research and clinical physicists. TOPAS can model a passive scattering or scanning beam treatment head, model a patient geometry based on computed tomography (CT) images, score dose, fluence, etc., save and restart a phase space, provides advanced graphics, and is fully four-dimensional (4D) to handle variations in beam delivery and patient geometry during treatment. A custom-designed TOPAS parameter control system was placed at the heart of the code to meet requirements for ease of use, reliability, and repeatability without sacrificing flexibility. RESULTS We built and tested the TOPAS code. We have shown that the TOPAS parameter system provides easy yet flexible control over all key simulation areas such as geometry setup, particle source setup, scoring setup, etc. Through design consistency, we have insured that user experience gained in configuring one component, scorer or filter applies equally well to configuring any other component, scorer or filter. We have incorporated key lessons from safety management, proactively removing possible sources of user error such as line-ordering mistakes. We have modeled proton therapy treatment examples including the UCSF eye treatment head, the MGH stereotactic alignment in radiosurgery treatment head and the MGH gantry treatment heads in passive scattering and scanning modes, and we have demonstrated dose calculation based on patient-specific CT data. Initial validation results show agreement with measured data and demonstrate the capabilities of TOPAS in simulating beam delivery in 3D and 4D. CONCLUSIONS We have demonstrated TOPAS accuracy and usability in a variety of proton therapy setups. As we are preparing to make this tool freely available for researchers in medical physics, we anticipate widespread use of this tool in the growing proton therapy community.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Perl
- SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA.
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Paganetti H, Schuemann J, Grassberger C, Verburg J, Giantsoudi D, Moteabbed M, Min C, Testa M, Faddegon B, Perl J. Advanced Dose Calculation to Reduce Uncertainties in Treatment Planning and Delivery for Proton Therapy Patients. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 2012. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ijrobp.2012.07.352] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
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Prestigiacomo C, Mocco J, Hetts S, Nesbit G, Murayama Y, Macdougall C, Johnston S, Ge G, Jung S, Gholkar A, Lopes D, Perl J, Tampieri D, Turk A. O-025 Geographical influence on aneurysm treatment outcomes and retreatment rates. J Neurointerv Surg 2012. [DOI: 10.1136/neurintsurg-2012-010455a.25] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
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Schuemann J, Shin J, Perl J, Grassberger C, Verburg J, Faddegon B, Paganetti H. SU-E-T-500: Pencil-Beam versus Monte Carlo Based Dose Calculation for Proton Therapy Patients with Complex Geometries. Clinical Use of the TOPAS Monte Carlo System. Med Phys 2012; 39:3820. [PMID: 28518479 DOI: 10.1118/1.4735589] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
Abstract
PURPOSE To investigate the necessity of the verification of dose distributions using Monte Carlo (MC) simulations for proton therapy of head and neck patients and other complex patient geometries. METHODS TOPAS, a TOol for PArticle Simulations that makes MC simulations easy-to-use for research and clinical use and is layered on top of Geant4, has been used to simulate the treatments of head and neck patients at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). The resulting dose distributions have been compared to pencil beam calculations based on the XiO treatment planning system. Dose difference distributions were used to highlight areas where the two algorithms did not agree. Dose volume histograms are utilized to investigate the overall agreement of the planned doses in target structures. RESULTS 21 head and neck patients, both nasopharynx and spinal cord, were investigated. The field complexity ranges from a single field up to 13 fields. For all patients, the dose in the clinical target volume agrees well. Nevertheless, differences in critical structures around the targets have been observed mostly due to range differences between the two algorithms. CONCLUSIONS Pencil beam algorithms provide an accurate description of dose in the target volume. However, we conclude that the differences between MC simulations and pencil beam algorithms in regions outside the target for complex geometries, such as present in head and neck patients, support the necessity of routine use of MC simulations for treatment verifications before treatment. TOPAS is aiming to make such routine simulations available to all researchers and clinics. An automated interface utilizing TOPAS to enable such simulations has been developed at MGH and should become routinely used in the near future for patients with complex geometries. NIH/NCI R01 CA140735.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Schuemann
- Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA.,UC San Francisco, San Francisco, CA.,Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Menlo Park, CA
| | - J Shin
- Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA.,UC San Francisco, San Francisco, CA.,Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Menlo Park, CA
| | - J Perl
- Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA.,UC San Francisco, San Francisco, CA.,Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Menlo Park, CA
| | - C Grassberger
- Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA.,UC San Francisco, San Francisco, CA.,Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Menlo Park, CA
| | - J Verburg
- Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA.,UC San Francisco, San Francisco, CA.,Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Menlo Park, CA
| | - B Faddegon
- Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA.,UC San Francisco, San Francisco, CA.,Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Menlo Park, CA
| | - H Paganetti
- Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA.,UC San Francisco, San Francisco, CA.,Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Menlo Park, CA
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Perl J, Shin J, Schuemann J, Faddegon B, Paganetti H. SU-E-T-473: Performance Assessment of the TOPAS Tool for Particle Simulation for Proton Therapy Applications. Med Phys 2012; 39:3814. [DOI: 10.1118/1.4735562] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
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Ramos-Mendez J, Perl J, Faddegon B, Paganetti H. SU-E-T-478: Geometrical Splitting Technique to Improve the Computational Efficiency in Monte Carlo Calculations for Proton Therapy. Med Phys 2012; 39:3815. [PMID: 28517444 DOI: 10.1118/1.4735567] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
Abstract
PURPOSE To implement a geometry based particle splitting technique in order to reduce the computation time when generating treatment head phase space files for proton therapy dose calculations using Monte Carlo (MC) calculations and to validate the doses generated from these phase spaces with respect to reference simulations. METHODS The treatment nozzles at the Francis H Burr Proton Therapy Center (FHBPTC) were modeled with a new MC tool ('TOPAS' based on Geant4). For variance reduction purposes, two particle-splitting planes were implemented, one downstream of the second ionization chamber the other upstream of the aperture of the nozzle and phase spaces in IAEA format were recovered. The symmetry of the proton beam was considered to split the particles by a factor of 4 per plane. Split particles were randomly positioned at different locations rotated around the beam axis. The computational efficiency was calculated and dose profiles compared for a voxelized water phantom for different treatment fields for both the reference and optimized simulations. Depth-dose curves and beam profiles were analyzed. Dose calculation in patients was simulated to compare the performance. RESULTS Normalized computational efficiency between 10 and 14.5 were reached. Percentage difference between dose profiles in water for simulations done with and without particle splitting is within the statistical precision of 2%, 1 standard deviation. Dose distributions for the realistic patient treatment show differences up to 4% in the regions of interest, within 2 standard deviations. CONCLUSIONS By considering the cylindrically symmetric region of the nozzle and the splitting planes separated at strategic distance, considerable time reduction can be achieved without compromising the precision. This approach will reduce the time for phase space simulations for clinical MC dose calculation at FHBPTC by more than a factor of 10.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Ramos-Mendez
- Benérita Universidad utónoma de Puebla, Puebla, México.,Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Menlo Park, CA.,UC San Francisco, San Francisco, CA.,Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
| | - J Perl
- Benérita Universidad utónoma de Puebla, Puebla, México.,Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Menlo Park, CA.,UC San Francisco, San Francisco, CA.,Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
| | - B Faddegon
- Benérita Universidad utónoma de Puebla, Puebla, México.,Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Menlo Park, CA.,UC San Francisco, San Francisco, CA.,Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
| | - H Paganetti
- Benérita Universidad utónoma de Puebla, Puebla, México.,Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Menlo Park, CA.,UC San Francisco, San Francisco, CA.,Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
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Shin J, Perl J, Schümann J, Paganetti H, Faddegon BA. A modular method to handle multiple time-dependent quantities in Monte Carlo simulations. Phys Med Biol 2012; 57:3295-308. [PMID: 22572201 DOI: 10.1088/0031-9155/57/11/3295] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Abstract
A general method for handling time-dependent quantities in Monte Carlo simulations was developed to make such simulations more accessible to the medical community for a wide range of applications in radiotherapy, including fluence and dose calculation. To describe time-dependent changes in the most general way, we developed a grammar of functions that we call 'Time Features'. When a simulation quantity, such as the position of a geometrical object, an angle, a magnetic field, a current, etc, takes its value from a Time Feature, that quantity varies over time. The operation of time-dependent simulation was separated into distinct parts: the Sequence samples time values either sequentially at equal increments or randomly from a uniform distribution (allowing quantities to vary continuously in time), and then each time-dependent quantity is calculated according to its Time Feature. Due to this modular structure, time-dependent simulations, even in the presence of multiple time-dependent quantities, can be efficiently performed in a single simulation with any given time resolution. This approach has been implemented in TOPAS (TOol for PArticle Simulation), designed to make Monte Carlo simulations with Geant4 more accessible to both clinical and research physicists. To demonstrate the method, three clinical situations were simulated: a variable water column used to verify constancy of the Bragg peak of the Crocker Lab eye treatment facility of the University of California, the double-scattering treatment mode of the passive beam scattering system at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), where a spinning range modulator wheel accompanied by beam current modulation produces a spread-out Bragg peak, and the scanning mode at MGH, where time-dependent pulse shape, energy distribution and magnetic fields control Bragg peak positions. Results confirm the clinical applicability of the method.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Shin
- UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, San Francisco, CA 94143-1708, USA
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Abstract
A key task within all Monte Carlo particle transport codes is 'navigation', the calculation to determine at each particle step what volume the particle may be leaving and what volume the particle may be entering. Navigation should be optimized to the specific geometry at hand. For patient dose calculation, this geometry generally involves voxelized computed tomography (CT) data. We investigated the efficiency of navigation algorithms on currently available voxel geometry parameterizations in the Monte Carlo simulation package Geant4: G4VPVParameterisation, G4VNestedParameterisation and G4PhantomParameterisation, the last with and without boundary skipping, a method where neighboring voxels with the same Hounsfield unit are combined into one larger voxel. A fourth parameterization approach (MGHParameterization), developed in-house before the latter two parameterizations became available in Geant4, was also included in this study. All simulations were performed using TOPAS, a tool for particle simulations layered on top of Geant4. Runtime comparisons were made on three distinct patient CT data sets: a head and neck, a liver and a prostate patient. We included an additional version of these three patients where all voxels, including the air voxels outside of the patient, were uniformly set to water in the runtime study. The G4VPVParameterisation offers two optimization options. One option has a 60-150 times slower simulation speed. The other is compatible in speed but requires 15-19 times more memory compared to the other parameterizations. We found the average CPU time used for the simulation relative to G4VNestedParameterisation to be 1.014 for G4PhantomParameterisation without boundary skipping and 1.015 for MGHParameterization. The average runtime ratio for G4PhantomParameterisation with and without boundary skipping for our heterogeneous data was equal to 0.97: 1. The calculated dose distributions agreed with the reference distribution for all but the G4PhantomParameterisation with boundary skipping for the head and neck patient. The maximum memory usage ranged from 0.8 to 1.8 GB depending on the CT volume independent of parameterizations, except for the 15-19 times greater memory usage with the G4VPVParameterisation when using the option with a higher simulation speed. The G4VNestedParameterisation was selected as the preferred choice for the patient geometries and treatment plans studied.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Schümann
- Department of Radiation Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
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Singh SKS, Common A, Perl J. Peritoneal dialysis catheter malfunction because of encasement by an extraluminal fibrin sheath. Perit Dial Int 2012; 32:218-20. [PMID: 22383724 DOI: 10.3747/pdi.2011.00172] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
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Perl J, Schümann J, Shin J, Faddegon B, Paganetti H. TU-C-BRB-08: TOPAS: A Fast and Easy to Use Tool for Particle Simulation. Med Phys 2011. [DOI: 10.1118/1.3613128] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
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Schümann J, Perl J, Shin J, Faddegon B, Paganetti H. TU-E-BRB-05: Streamlining Monte Carlo Dose Calculations for Routing Clinical Use in Proton Therapy. Med Phys 2011. [DOI: 10.1118/1.3613181] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
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36
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Shin J, Perl J, Schümann J, Paganetti H, Faddegon B. TU-G-BRB-02: Comprehensive Handling of Time-Dependent Quantities in Scanning Beam Simulation. Med Phys 2011. [DOI: 10.1118/1.3613222] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
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Perl J, Fease J, Tubman D, Crandall B. O-026 Balloon assisted coiling of intracranial aneurysms: complication comparison between non-assisted and balloon assisted procedures. J Neurointerv Surg 2010. [DOI: 10.1136/jnis.2010.003244.26] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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Temple S, Zaltzman J, Perl J. Development of Encapsulating Peritoneal Sclerosis in a Renal Transplant Recipient on Sirolimus Immunotherapy. Perit Dial Int 2010; 30:475-7. [DOI: 10.3747/pdi.2009.00211] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- S. Temple
- Division of Nephrology St. Michael's Hospital University of Toronto Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - J. Zaltzman
- Division of Nephrology St. Michael's Hospital University of Toronto Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - J. Perl
- Division of Nephrology St. Michael's Hospital University of Toronto Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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Constantin M, Constantin D, Perl J, Keall P, Poehlmann F, Rieker G, Cappelli M. TH-D-BRB-03: Monte Carlo Simulations of Beam Characteristics for a Compact Plasma Proton Accelerator. Med Phys 2010. [DOI: 10.1118/1.3469540] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
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Constantin M, Perl J, Constantin D, LoSasso T, Salop A, Narula A, Svatos M, Keall P. SU-GG-T-407: Modeling a New Varian Linac Using a CAD to Geant4 Geometry Implementation: Dose and IAEA-Compliant Phase Space Calculations. Med Phys 2010. [DOI: 10.1118/1.3468804] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
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Sawkey D, Faddegon B, Paganetti H, Perl J. SU-GG-T-432: Implementation of Modular Phase Space IO in Geant4 with Enhanced Latch Capability. Med Phys 2010. [DOI: 10.1118/1.3468829] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
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Constantin M, Keall P, Perl J, Poehlmann F, Rieker G, Cappelli M. SU-FF-T-400: Monte Carlo Simulations of Compact Plasma Accelerators for Proton Radiotherapy. Med Phys 2009. [DOI: 10.1118/1.3181882] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
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Perl J, Faddegon B, Paganetti H. SU-GG-T-338: Recent Improvements in the Geant4 Monte Carlo Simulation Toolkit for Medical Physics Applications. Med Phys 2008. [DOI: 10.1118/1.2962090] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
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Faddegon B, Traneus E, Perl J, Tinslay J, Asai M. SU-FF-T-123: Comparison of Monte Carlo Simulation Results to An Experimental Thick-Target Bremsstrahlung Benchmark. Med Phys 2007. [DOI: 10.1118/1.2760781] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
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Tinslay J, Faddegon BA, Perl J, Asai M. SU-FF-T-447: Verification of Bremsstrahlung Splitting in Geant4 for Radiotherapy Quality Beams. Med Phys 2007. [DOI: 10.1118/1.2761172] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
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Abstract
Excessive daytime sleepiness and sleep disorders, including sleep apnea syndrome, restless legs syndrome, and periodic limb movement disorder, occur with increased frequency in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). The detection and management of sleep disorders in ESRD patients is often challenging but may have significant clinical benefits. Some of the poor quality of life in ESRD may be attributed to the presence of concomitant sleep disorders, yet the classical symptoms of sleep disorders (poor concentration, daytime sleepiness, and insomnia) are often ascribed to the uremic syndrome itself. Conventional risk factors and screening tools used in the diagnosis of sleep disorders seem to have limited applicability in dialysis patients implicating the unique pathophysiology of sleep disorders in ESRD. Emerging evidence suggests that sleep apnea may contribute to the augmented cardiovascular event rates and to the accelerated development of atherosclerosis in ESRD. Whether treatment of sleep disorders in ESRD patients can affect the high morbidity and mortality of ESRD patients has yet to be elucidated. To date, conventional renal replacement therapies do not appear to have a significant impact on the treatment of sleep disorders in ESRD. The promising therapeutic effects of optimal uremia control in the forms of nocturnal hemodialysis and renal transplantation on sleep disorders require further mechanistic and clinical studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Perl
- Division of Nephrology, University Health Network, Toronto General Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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Abstract
Central venous catheter (CVC) as hemodialysis (HD) access is associated with great morbidity and mortality in the end-stage renal disease population. Quotidian, nocturnal HD (NHD) is a novel dialysis modality associated with cardiovascular and quality of life benefits, yet there is a concern of a potential increase in vascular access-related complications through patient-directed access cannulation. We aimed to determine catheter incidence and prevalence in the NHD population and to compare rates of catheter-related: infection, thrombolytic administration, hospitalization, survival, and reasons for their loss before and after conversion to NHD. This observational cohort consisted of incident and prevalent NHD patients between 1 November 1993 and 31 May 2005. Rate comparisons were determined by Poisson analysis and catheter survival by Kaplan-Meier curves. Eighty-one CVCs in 33 patients accounted for 17 150 CVC days (CVCD); 40 CVCs were exclusively used for conventional three times weekly HD (CHD) and 25 CVCs were exclusively used during NHD. The incidence and prevalence of CVC use in our NHD population was 35 and 25%, respectively. Comparing CHD to NHD, no significant differences were seen in total rates of infection, thrombolytic administration, or access-related hospitalization. Catheter survival was superior in NHD vs CHD (P=0.03). Adverse terminal catheter events were higher during CHD than NHD (5.84 vs 2.92/1000 CVCD; P=0.03). CVC use and complications in NHD is comparable to that in CHD with the benefit of longer cumulative survival. More frequent CVC use should not be a deterrent to NHD.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Perl
- Department of Medicine, Division of Nephrology, University Health Network, Toronto General Hospital and the University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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Kapural M, Krizanac-Bengez L, Barnett G, Perl J, Masaryk T, Apollo D, Rasmussen P, Mayberg MR, Janigro D. Serum S-100beta as a possible marker of blood-brain barrier disruption. Brain Res 2002; 940:102-4. [PMID: 12020881 DOI: 10.1016/s0006-8993(02)02586-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 224] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
Two brain-specific proteins, S-100beta and neuron-specific enolase (NSE), are released systemically after cerebral lesions, but S-100beta levels sometimes rise in the absence of neuronal damage. We hypothesized that S-100beta is a marker of blood-brain barrier (BBB) leakage rather than of neuronal damage. We measured both proteins in the plasma of patients undergoing iatrogenic BBB disruption with mannitol, followed by chemotherapy. Serum S-100beta increased significantly after mannitol infusion (P<0.05) while NSE did not. This suggests that S-100beta is an early marker of BBB opening that is not necessarily related to neuronal damage.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Kapural
- Department of Neurological Surgery, Cleveland Clinic Foundation NB-20, 9500 Euclid Avenue, NB2-137, Cleveland, OH 44195, USA
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Gupta MK, Perl J, Beham R, Sheeler LR, Foster JA, Gliga M, Mcbride N, Faiman MR, Mehta AE, Dattatreya R, Faiman C. Effect of 131 iodine therapy on the course of Graves' ophthalmopathy: a quantitative analysis of extraocular muscle volumes using orbital magnetic resonance imaging. Thyroid 2001; 11:959-65. [PMID: 11716044 DOI: 10.1089/105072501753211037] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Abstract
There remains uncertainty as to the effect of radioactive iodine (131I) therapy on the associated ophthalmopathy (GO). Twenty newly diagnosed patients with Graves' hyperthyroidism treated with 131I (median dose, 15.5 mCi) were followed with ophthalmologic evaluations (OE) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at baseline, 2, and 6 months, and with OE alone at 3 years. For MRI, the superior, inferior, and medial rectus muscle volumes and total muscle volumes (TMV) were measured. Replacement levothyroxine was initiated as low thyroxine (T4) levels were noted. At baseline, 10 patients (50%) showed evidence of mild GO by OE and/or MRI. There was a significant difference in TMV between the 20 patients with Graves' hyperthyroidism and 10 controls (mean +/- standard error [SE]; 2,652 +/- 118 vs. 2,046 +/- 96 mm3; P = 0.002) and between the 10 patients with and 10 without GO (3,006 +/- 96 vs. 2,298 +/- 61 mm3; P = 0.001). TMV correlated with the Hertel score (r = 0.56, P = 0.01). TMV showed no significant change at 2 or 6 months posttreatment. The inferior rectus volume increased slightly at 2 months posttreatment (P = 0.03) but remained stable at 6 months. Furthermore, no significant changes occurred in Hertel scores or in clinical assessments up to 3 years posttreatment and none showed worsening or new development of GO. In conclusion, our results show no significant risk for radioiodine-induced initiation or progression of mild GO.
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Affiliation(s)
- M K Gupta
- Department of Endocrinology, The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Ohio 44195, USA.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Perl
- Department of Endovascular Neurosurgery and Neuroradiology, Cleveland Clinic Foundation S80, 9500 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44195, USA
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