DOI
https://doi.org/10.25772/ABXM-8913
Author ORCID Identifier
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1104-1612
Defense Date
2020
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science
Department
Radiation Oncology
First Advisor
William Y. Song, Ph.D.
Abstract
Purpose: Anisotropy of the 192Ir source causes a lack of dose coverage at the apex in HDR vaginal cylinder brachytherapy (VC BT). In this study, we took advantage of the GEANT4 Monte Carlo (MC) simulation code to design a new DMBT vaginal applicator so that it maintains the dose coverage of the current vaginal cylinder at periphery everywhere while improving the apex coverage. In addition, since current treatment planning systems (TPS) considers the whole environment as water according to TG43 formalism, based on the capability of the MC in the calculation of dose in the material, the effect of inhomogeneity of the vaginal cylinder in the dose coverage was investigated. Methods: The new DMBT vaginal applicator was designed to be a 30 mm diameter, single lumen vaginal cylinder, made of polyphenylsulfone (PPSU) plastic. The central part of the applicator, which includes the lumen, was considered to be a detachable 8 mm diameter tandem rod. In order to provide directional modulation, a tungsten rod similar to the dimensions of the detachable tandem was added to the simulation. The applicator works in two steps. First, we get a typical dose distribution based on the planning system using the applicator with a detachable polyetheretherketone (PEEK) plastic tandem in place. Second, the detachable tandem is replaced 5 with a tungsten tandem to compensate for the lack of coverage at the apex utilizing a directional radiation beam generated. The same source dwell positioning is used for both steps, while the dwell time for the second step is a small fraction of the first step. Furthermore, in order to assess the effect of VC inhomogeneity, a separate simulation with the same dwell time and position based on TG43 model was performed and the results were compared. The MATLAB software was used for data analysis. Results: The analysis showed that the new applicator can address the lack of coverage at the apex due to anisotropy (~2 mm), while simultaneously preventing from overdosing the periphery. Also, the analysis of the data indicated that there is a reduction of dose at the surface of the cylinder (~7.3%) at the periphery, in comparison to TG43 model. Conclusion: This new DMBT concept design can be considered as a possible solution for the lack of apex coverage due to anisotropy as there is a subset of patients who experience recurrences after brachytherapy, frequently in the vaginal apex. Further, based on the VC heterogeneity analysis, the reduction of the dose at the surface of the cylinder indicates that prescribing the dose to VC surface involves additional level of uncertainty.
Rights
© The Author
Is Part Of
VCU University Archives
Is Part Of
VCU Theses and Dissertations
Date of Submission
4-19-2020