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...ve not generally been available for small laboratorysanimals until recently, animals were usually irradiated eithersto the whole thorax or with relatively large AP-PA fields tosexpose the whole heart =-=(19, 20)-=-.sWe developed a small animal conformal radiation therapysdevice (SACRTD) at our institution that can mimic clinicalsconformal radiotherapy techniques in a pre-clinical setting.sThe system has onboard...

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...exposed to 5 Gy atsisocenter. The dose profile distribution at 1 cm depth wassalso measured with these EBT-2 films. Gafchromic EBT-2sfilms were analyzed following the process outlined in Devicset al. =-=(37)-=-. Before irradiation, films were cut into appropriately sized pieces (usually 4 cm 3 4 cm) and marked forstheir orientation. Tenspre-irradiation dark scans (scan without any film) and five pre-irradia...

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...ve not generally been available for small laboratorysanimals until recently, animals were usually irradiated eithersto the whole thorax or with relatively large AP-PA fields tosexpose the whole heart =-=(19, 20)-=-.sWe developed a small animal conformal radiation therapysdevice (SACRTD) at our institution that can mimic clinicalsconformal radiotherapy techniques in a pre-clinical setting.sThe system has onboard...

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...rc in the x-z direction is shown in Figure 3. The MontesCarlo results were compared to measurements of depthsdose distribution using solid water cutouts and GafchromicsEBT-2 film. AAPM protocol TG-61 =-=(32)-=- was used tosmeasure dose in air and solid water phantoms (CertifiedsTherapy Grade Solid Water: Gammex 457–CTG, GammexsInc., USA) using a pinpoint PTW chamber (Model N30013)scalibrated for 225kV. The ...

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...ACRTD (33-35). The dosesrate with the secondary collimator at the isocenter was alsosmeasured using a pin-point ion chamber (PTW N301013,sADCL calibrated for 225 kV) following the AAPM TG-61sprotocol =-=(36)-=-. To measure relative depth dose, 11 piecessof Gafchromic EBT-2 film (4 cm 3 4 cm) were placed insbetween 11 slabs of solid water (10 cm 3 10 cm 3 0.5 cm).sThe top of the stack of solid water phantom ...

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...cember 2014 594 Sharma et al. parts of the world and until recently also in the western world,sexposes small parts of the heart to doses .20 Gy in a largesportion of left-sided breast cancer patients =-=(3, 12)-=-. Moreover,salthough there are increasing uses of concomitant therapies,sthe extent to which these therapies enhance the effects of radiation in the heart is not yet known. Hence, RIHD is widelysackno...

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... RIHDspresent several years after radiation therapy and include accelerated atherosclerosis, pericardial and myocardial fibrosis, electrical conduction abnormalities,sand injury to the cardiac valves =-=(1, 4)-=-. With improved radiotherapy planning andsdelivery techniques, cardiac radiation exposure has been greatly reduced; however, recent studies indicate that patients with Hodgkin’s disease, lung cancer,s...

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...cember 2014 594 Sharma et al. parts of the world and until recently also in the western world,sexposes small parts of the heart to doses .20 Gy in a largesportion of left-sided breast cancer patients =-=(3, 12)-=-. Moreover,salthough there are increasing uses of concomitant therapies,sthe extent to which these therapies enhance the effects of radiation in the heart is not yet known. Hence, RIHD is widelysackno...

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...l studies of radiation-induced cardiomyopathy (12-15). Both single doses and fractionated protocolsslead to reduced ventricular ejection fraction and restrictivesdiastolic filling as measured in vivo =-=(16)-=- and reduced cardiac output and increased diastolic stiffness when measuredsex vivo (16-18). Histopathological changes include myocardial degeneration (myocardial necrosis, accompanied bysinflammation...

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...itionssand orientation as the pre-irradiated film scans. In-house software written in MATLAB was used to acquire the net opticalsdensity (OD) distributions to calculate the dose delivered tosthe film =-=(28)-=-. Animal Holder A custom-made cylindrical Plexiglas holder (26.6 cm length,s5.71 cm internal diameter, and 3 mm thick, Berg & SonsMachine shop, Inc., Little Rock, AR) was designed to holdsthe rat vert...

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...cing of 0.18 mm 3 0.18 mm 3 0.18 mm in the X-Y-Z directions. Technology in Cancer Research & Treatment, Volume 13, Number 6, December 2014 596 Sharma et al. primary and aluminum secondary collimators =-=(31)-=-. A schematic diagram of the collimator design rendered by BEAMnrc in the x-z direction is shown in Figure 3. The MontesCarlo results were compared to measurements of depthsdose distribution using sol...