Investigating Thermal Properties of a Thermobrachytherapy Radioactive Seed

Bhoj Gautam
03/22/2010
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Outline Introduction
Hyperthermia New thermobrachytherapy seed Ferromagnetic Induction Heating

Method and Materials 3-D Modeling Results Conclusion

What is Hyperthermia ?
An artificial way of increasing the body tissue temperature Range of 42.5 - 45 C for 1 hour produces pronounced cell killing Cause direct damage to cancerous cells and also sensitize them to other treatment modalities Effective temperature range of is very small

How it Works with Other Treatment Modalities ?

Synergistic effect is observed and a higher tumor control can be achieved when heat and radiation are used together simultaneously

The synergistic effect of heat and radiation is quantified by the Thermal Enhancement Ratio (TER) defined as:

TER = RT dose without heat to produce the equivalent effect

RT dose with heat

Ref: 1. Adam Chiche, Janusz Skowronek, Magda Kubaszewska, Marek Kanikowski, Rep Pract Oncol Radiother, 2007; 12(5): 267-275

Why New Technique is Required ?

Heating method depends up on the location, depth and stage of the tumor Various approaches were being developed for the thermoradiation therapy Still fail to overcome limitations such as inadequate temperature control, temperature non uniformity, and prolonged time delay between hyperthermia and radiation treatments

How is the Proposed Seed Different ?

It overcomes the limitations listed earlier It serves as a self regulating heat source and controls the tissue temperature from overheating No separate thermometry is required Temperature uniformity can be achieved by adjusting the externally controlled parameters and density of seeds implanted in the target volume Radiation and heat both can be applied simultaneously

How is the Seed Designated ?

It is based on the BEST Model 2301 Iodine-125 Tungsten marker core is replaced with a ferromagnetic material

Titanium capsule

Tungsten marker

Titanium capsule

Ferromagnetic core

0.8 mm Carbon coating with 125I 5 mm Carbon coating with 125I 5 mm

BEST seed 2301

Our seed Model

Does the Replacement Effects on Radiation Delivery?

The replacement does not noticeably change the dose rate and other TG-43 factors characterizing radiation distribution It has only minor effect on the radiographic properties of the seed

Work for radiation properties of exact seed configuration is in progress

Ferromagnetic Induction Heating

Alternating magnetic fields induces eddy currents within the conductor Resistive heating of the conductor occurs because of the inducing current The power density released into the material is given by
P = 4 f H 2 F( d )

where is the permeability of the magnetic material f frequency and H amplitude of alternating magnetic field the penetration depth and d is the diameter of ferromagnetic material

Why is the Core Ferromagnetic ?

Ferromagnetic materials undergo Curie transition (Ferro to Para) on heating Relative permeability decrease as the material goes closer to its Curie point (TC) and becomes unity at and above TC Heating power produced by seed also decreases with increase of temperature and become close 0 at and above TC Ni-Cu (Ni-70.4%) is chosen as the material for core because its TC is about 52 oC and the TC can be tuned by changing the composition of the alloy

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Model Set Up
A seed was placed at the middle of a phantom 5 current coils were wrapped around the water phantom Coils and the phantom were surrounded by air The system was kept inside the thermal and magnetic insulation

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What are the Governing Equations ?

We need to solve the following equations

(i )A + (
2

r r r A = J e r T r r C P kT = Q T , A t r r

( )

Here Q is time average of the inductive heating over one period -frequency -electric conductivity -electric permittivity A-magnetic vector potential - magnetic permeability (temperature-dependent) - density CP - specific heat capacity k- thermal conductivity and E- electric field vector

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How the Problem was Solved Modeling Tool

A finite-element partial differential equation solver package COMSOL Multiphysics is used for the modeling It uses the numerical method to solve differential equation

AC/DC Module 3-D Modeling

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What Assumptions were Made ?

The electric current flows through the surface of the coils (no volume current density) The heat transfer only through the conduction process

Temperature dependence of the magnetic permeability of ferromagnetic material (Ni-Cu)

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Single seed Heating

I=1kA

f=100kHz
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Single Seed Isothermal Surfaces

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Radial Temperature Distribution

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Temperature and Radiation Dose Distributions

1.0

0.8
T = T(r) - 37 C

0.6

0.4

T
0.2

0.0

0.0

0.1 0.2 0.3 Radial distance from seed [cm]

0.4

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Multiple Seed Heating

Single layer of seeds

16 seeds (4x4 square array) seeds are separated at a distance of 1cm

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Temperature Distribution along Seed Bisector Plane

I=1kA, f=100kHz
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Isothermal Surfaces

General View

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Isothermal Surfaces XZ plane View

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Isothermal Surfaces

XY-plane View

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Multiple Seed Heating

Two layers of seeds

Each layer has 16 seeds A target volume was defined as a volume that covers 1mm distance from the seeds

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Temperature Distribution

I=1kA and f=100kHz

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Radiation Isodose and Temperature Isosurfaces

Isodose distribution generated by Variseed software

Thermal distribution generated by Comsol software

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Radiation Isodose and Temperature Isosurfaces

Isodose distribution

Thermal distribution

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Temperature Distribution between Two Seed Layers

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Temperature Distribution for Two Different Current

1kA

1.25 kA
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Temperature Distribution for Two Different Frequencies

100kHz

120kHz
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Temperature Volume Histogram

1.0

I=1kA
0.8
V t=17.34 cm 3

f=100kHz

Volume

0.6

0.4
100kHz
1kA 1.25kA 1.5kA

0.2

120kHz 150kHz

0.0 40

42

44

46

48

40 42 T [ o C]

44

46

48

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Conclusion The proposed seed will require only small changes in the internal structure of a standard commercial brachytherapy seed model The amount of heat produced by the seeds, separated by 1 cm distance, is high sufficient for achieving the therapeutic temperature range in the surrounding volume when the appropriate frequency and coil current is applied The proposed self-regulating thermobrachytherapy seed has high potential for the implementation of concurrent brachytherapy and hyperthermia in prostate cancer treatments
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References
1. Taschereau et al. Technology in Cancer Research & Treatment ISSN 1533-0346 Volume 3, Number 4, August (2004) Stauffer, et al. IEEE Transaction of Biomedical Engineering , Vol. BME31, NO. 1, January 1984 Ivan A. Brezovich, William J Atkinson, and Michael B. Lilly, Cancer Research (Suppl.) 44, 4752s-4756s October (1984)

2.

3.

4.

N. Khan, Dosimetric Calculation of New Thermobrachytherapy Seed Models: A Monte Carlo Study; Masters Thesis, Univ. of Toledo, 2008

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Acknowledgment

Dr. Parsai Dr. Shvydka

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Thank You

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