Med Phys
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Most clinically deployed strategies for respiratory motion management in lung radiotherapy (e.g., gating and tracking) use external markers that serve as surrogates for tumor motion. However, typical lung phantoms used to validate these strategies are based on a rigid exterior and a rigid or a deformable-interior. Such designs do not adequately represent respiration because the thoracic anatomy deforms internally as well as externally. In order to create a closer approximation of respiratory motion, the authors describe the construction and experimental testing of an externally as well as internally deformable, programmable lung phantom. ⋯ The authors have developed a realistic externally and internally deformable, programmable lung phantom that will serve as a valuable tool for clinical and investigational motion management studies in thoracic and abdominal radiation therapies.
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Clinical Trial
Cyst-based measurements for assessing lymphangioleiomyomatosis in computed tomography.
To investigate the efficacy of a new family of measurements made on individual pulmonary cysts extracted from computed tomography (CT) for assessing the severity of lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM). ⋯ The proposed family of CT-based cyst measurements have better correlation with spirometric measures than previously used density based CT measurements. They show potential as a sensitive tool for quantitatively assessing the severity of LAM.