Esophageal stenosis associated with tumor regression in radiotherapy for esophageal cancer: frequency and prediction.

PURPOSE: To determine clinical factors for predicting the frequency and severity of esophageal stenosis associated with tumor regression in radiotherapy for esophageal cancer. METHODS AND MATERIALS: The study group consisted of 109 patients with esophageal cancer of T1-4 and Stage I-III who were treated with definitive radiotherapy and achieved a complete response of their primary lesion at Kyushu University Hospital between January 1998 and December 2007. Esophageal stenosis was evaluated using esophagographic images within 3 months after completion of radiotherapy. We investigated the correlation between esophageal stenosis after radiotherapy and each of the clinical factors with regard to tumors and therapy. For validation of the correlative factors for esophageal stenosis, an artificial neural network was used to predict the esophageal stenotic ratio. RESULTS: Esophageal stenosis tended to be more severe and more frequent in T3-4 cases than in T1-2 cases. Esophageal stenosis in cases with full circumference involvement tended to be more severe and more frequent than that in cases without full circumference involvement. Increases in wall thickness tended to be associated with increases in esophageal stenosis severity and frequency. In the multivariate analysis, T stage, extent of involved circumference, and wall thickness of the tumor region were significantly correlated to esophageal stenosis (p = 0.031, p < 0.0001, and p = 0.0011, respectively). The esophageal stenotic ratio predicted by the artificial neural network, which learned these three factors, was significantly correlated to the actual observed stenotic ratio, with a correlation coefficient of 0.864 (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Our study suggested that T stage, extent of involved circumference, and esophageal wall thickness of the tumor region were useful to predict the frequency and severity of esophageal stenosis associated with tumor regression in radiotherapy for esophageal cancer.

Estimation of focal and extra-focal radiation profiles based on Gaussian modeling in medical linear accelerators.

The X-ray source or focal radiation is one of the factors that can degrade the conformal field edge in stereotactic body radiotherapy. For that reason, it is very important to estimate the total focal radiation profiles of linear accelerators, which consists of X-ray focal-spot radiation and extra-focal radiation profiles. Our purpose in this study was to propose an experimental method for estimating the focal-spot and extra-focal radiation profiles of linear accelerators based on triple Gaussian functions. We measured the total X-ray focal radiation profiles of the accelerators by moving a slit in conjunction with a photon field p-type silicon diode. The slit width was changed so that the extra-focal radiation could be optimally included in the total focal radiation. The total focal radiation profiles of an accelerator at 4-MV and 10-MV energies were approximated with a combination of triple Gaussian functions, which correspond to the focal-spot radiation, extra-focal radiation, and radiation transmitted through the slit assembly. As a result, the ratios of the Gaussian peak value of the extra-focal radiation to that of the focal spot for 4 and 10 MV were 0.077 and 0.159, respectively. The peak widths of the focal-spot and extra-focal radiation profiles were 0.57 and 25.0 mm for 4 MV, respectively, and 0.60 and 22.0 mm for 10 MV, respectively. We concluded that the proposed focal radiation profile model based on the triple Gaussian functions may be feasible for estimating the X-ray focal-spot and extra-focal radiation profiles.