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Background: The brain of sheep has primarily been used in neuroscience as an animal model because of its similarity to the human brain, in particular if compared to other models such as the lissencephalic rodent brain. Their brain size also makes sheep an ideal model for the development of neurosurgical techniques using conventional clinical CT/MRI scanners and stereotactic systems for neurosurgery., Methods: In this study, we present the design and validation of a new CT/MRI compatible head frame for the ovine model and software, with its assessment under two real clinical scenarios., Results: Ex-vivo and in vivo trial results report an average linear displacement of the ovine head frame during conventional surgical procedures of 0.81 mm for ex-vivo trials and 0.68 mm for in vivo tests, respectively., Conclusions: These trial results demonstrate the robustness of the head frame system and its suitability to be employed within a real clinical setting., (© 2021 The Authors. The International Journal of Medical Robotics and Computer Assisted Surgery published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background and Purpose: To assess the impact of using MRI and Helical Tomotherapy (HT) compared to 3DCRT and dynamic IMRT on the dose to the penile bulb (PB)., Materials and Methods: Eight patients diagnosed with prostate cancer entered a treatment protocol including CT and MRI simulation. The prostate apex was defined on both MRI and CT. Treatment plans (HT, Linac-IMRT, 3DCRT and conventional technique), were elaborated on both MRI and CT images. A dose of 71.4Gy (2.55Gy/fraction) was prescribed; it was requested that PTVs be covered by 95% isodose line. The mean dose and V50 of PB were evaluated., Results: PTV-MRI plans reduced PB mean dose and V50 compared to PTV-CT plans. This improvement, deriving also from the treatment modality, was 89% for 3DCRT, 99% for Linac-IMRT and 97% for HT (p<0.01), considering V50. Conventional plans resulted in a significantly higher mean PB dose/V50 compared to 3DCRT-PTV-CT (+27%/+38%), Linac-IMRT-PTV-CT (+42%/+57%) and HT-PTV-CT (+32%/+48%) (p<0.01). The comparison between conventional and PTV-MRI techniques showed a still larger increase: +73%/+93% 3DCRT; +86%/+99% Linac-IMRT; +56%/+99% HT (p<0.01). The PB mean dose reduction with Linac-IMRT compared to 3DCRT was 24% (p=0.034) and 40% (p=0.027) for PTV-CT and PTV-MRI, respectively. This gain remained significant even when comparing Linac-IMRT to HT: 21% (p=0.07) PTV-CT and 68% (p=0.00002) PTV-MRI. HT was superior to 3DCRT with respect to PTV-CT (average gain 4%, p=0.044), whereas it resulted to be detrimental considering PTV-MRI (26Gy vs 16.5Gy), possibly due to the helical delivery of HT; however, in a patient where the distance bulb-PTV <1cm, HT provided better PB sparing than 3DCRT (29.5Gy vs 45.2Gy)., Conclusions: MRI allowed efficient sparing of PB irrespective of the treatment modality. Linac-IMRT was shown to further reduce the dose to the bulb compared to 3DCRT and HT.

Purpose. To verify the possibility of using Helical Tomotherapy to safely escalate dose to single or multiple highly radioresistant dominant intra-prostatic lesions (DILs) as assessed by functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Material. In seven intermediate/high risk patients, T2WI, T1WI and DWI MRI imaging showed evidence of one DIL in four patients and two DILs in three patients in the peripheral zone of the prostate. The planning strategy was to deliver median doses of 80, 90, 100 and 120 Gy to PTVDIL while delivering 71.4 Gy/28 fractions (EQD2=75 Gy) to the remaining portion of PTV. A higher priority was assigned to rectal constraints relative to DIL coverage. Rectal NTCP calculations were performed using the most recently available model data. Results. The median dose to DIL could safely be escalated to at least 100 Gy (EQD2,α/β=10=113 Gy) without violating safe constraints for the organs at risk. Typical rectal NTCP values were around or below 1-3% for G3 toxicity and 5-7% for G2-G3 toxicity. For the 100 Gy DIL dose boost strategy, mean D95% of DIL and PTVDIL were 98.8 Gy and 86.7 Gy, respectively. The constraints for bladder, urethra and femoral heads were always respected. Conclusions. IGRT by Helical Tomotherapy may permit the safe escalation of EQD2,α/β=10 to at least 113 Gy to DILs without significantly increasing rectal NTCP compared to plans without dose escalation. A Phase I-II clinical study is warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]