title: Assessment of absorbed dose to thyroid, parotid and ovaries in patients undergoing Gamma Knife radiosurgery.
abstract: Stereotactic radiosurgery was originally introduced by Lars Leksell in 1951. This treatment refers to the noninvasive destruction of an intracranial target localized stereotactically. The purpose of this study was to identify the dose delivered to the parotid, ovaries, testis and thyroid glands during the Gamma Knife radiosurgery procedure. A three-dimensional, anthropomorphic phantom was developed using natural human bone, paraffin and sodium chloride as the equivalent tissue. The phantom consisted of a thorax, head and neck and hip. In the natural places of the thyroid, parotid (bilateral sides) and ovaries (midline), some cavities were made to place TLDs. Three TLDs were inserted in a batch with 1 cm space between the TLDs and each batch was inserted into a single cavity. The final depth of TLDs was 3 cm from the surface for parotid and thyroid and was 15 cm for the ovaries. Similar batches were placed superficially on the phantom. The phantom was gamma irradiated using a Leksell model C Gamma Knife unit. Subsequently, the same batches were placed superficially over the thyroid, parotid, testis and ovaries in 30 patients (15 men and 15 women) who were undergoing radiosurgery treatment for brain tumours. The mean dosage for treating these patients was 14.48 +/- 3.06 Gy (10.5-24 Gy) to a mean tumour volume of 12.30 +/- 9.66 cc (0.27-42.4 cc) in the 50% isodose curve. There was no significant difference between the superficial and deep batches in the phantom studies (P-value < 0.05). The mean delivered doses to the parotid, thyroid, ovaries and testis in human subjects were 21.6 +/- 15.1 cGy, 9.15 +/- 3.89 cGy, 0.47 +/- 0.3 cGy and 0.53 +/- 0.31 cGy, respectively. The data can be used in making decisions for special clinical situations such as treating pregnant patients or young patients with benign lesions who need radiosurgery for eradication of brain tumours.
authors.affiliation: Medical Physics Department, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hasanzadeh
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sharafi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Allah Verdi
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nikoofar
mesh_terms: D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000556:secondary / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D005720:Gamma Rays; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008953:Models, Anatomic; D010053:Ovary; D010306:Parotid Gland; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011832:Radiation Injuries; D016634:Radiosurgery / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D013238:Stereotaxic Techniques; D013737:Testis; D013961:Thyroid Gland