A comprehensive method for calculating total body irradiation

PurposeTo provide means for calculating the dose received by various tissues of the patient, calculate lung shield, and verify received dose using a phantom as a tool for quality assurance for a planned Total Body Irradiation (TBI) procedure in radiotherapy.MethodUsing Microsoft Visual Basic, MATLAB, and Python, a program for Total Body Irradiation Calculation in Radiotherapy (TBICR) is constructed. It uses patient translation and beam zone method for total body irradiation calculations to compute the proper dose received by the patient and determine the lung shield thickness. There are three main user-friendly interfaces in the application. The first one allows the user to upload the TBI topography and estimate the distances needed for TBI calculations. The second one enables the user to count the number of beam zones needed for each point and estimate the effective area (A_eff) for each level. The third interface estimates the velocity required to deliver the relative dose depending on patient separation, Monitor Units (MU), couch speed and travel distance. It allows the user to compute the required lung shield thickness, read any patient's CT DICOM file and acquire dose in any distinct location using machine learning model to predict the dose.ResultsThe TBICR software has been successfully validated by reproducing all of the manual calculations in an exact and timely manner. TBICR generated more accurate results and confirmed the absorbed dose to patient through measurements on Anderson phantom.ConclusionsA computer program for the calculation of total body irradiation (TBI) is described in full. The dose received at each point on the patient, the calculation of lung shield and the determination of the velocity and time required for the couch movement are all made possible using the software. The ease of use, precision, data storage and printing are some important features of the present software.     

Electrolipolysis associated with aerobic activity does not reduce subcutaneous adipose tissue of the abdominal region of young women: A randomized clinical trial

ObjectiveTo analyze the effects of electrolysis, through a medium frequency current, associated to aerobic physical activity in the body composition of young women.MethodsThe study was composed of 34 sedentary women (24.35 ± 4.43 years, 71.30 ± 7.08 kg, 1.61 ± 0.06 m, 27.31 ± 1.67 kg/m2) which were evaluated for their anthropometric measures and body composition. The volunteers were randomly assigned to two group: Electrolyphysis plus Aerobic Exercise (gEEA): 17 volunteers were submitted to the application, for 60 min , of the Aussie current, followed by aerobic physical activity (77% of HRmax) on the trampoline for 40 min, through video-lessons of Jump; and Aerobic Exercise group (gEA): 17 volunteers performed only physical activity following the same parameters mentioned above. Each group performed its protocols twice weekly, for 5 weeks, totaling 10 sessions. For the data analysis, measures repeated ANOVA was performed to compare the means of the variables analyzed before and after the treatment protocols using the SPSS - 21.0 software, adopting a p ≤ 0.05.ResultsAlthough gEEA decreased suprailiac skinfold (p = 0.04), abdominal skinfold (p = 0.03) and circumference at umbilical scar (p = 0.02) in an intragroup analysis, these means differences in anthropometric measures were not important between-groups (p > 0.05). Furthermore, there were no effect of treatment on body composition (p > 0.05).ConclusionTo this studied condition, our results suggested that application of medium frequency electrolysis did not enhance the losses on anthropometric measures and body composition.