Background and purpose: Automatic approaches are widely implemented to automate dose optimization in radiotherapy treatment planning. This study systematically investigates how to configure automatic planning in order to create the best possible plans. Materials and methods: Automatic plans were generated using protocol based automatic iterative optimization. Starting from a simple automation protocol which consisted of the constraints for targets and organs at risk (OAR), the performance of the automatic approach was evaluated in terms of target coverage, OAR sparing, conformity, beam complexity, and plan quality. More complex protocols were systematically explored to improve the quality of the automatic plans. The protocols could be improved by adding a dose goal on the outer 2 mm of the PTV, by setting goals on strategically chosen subparts of OARs, by adding goals for conformity, and by limiting the leaf motion. For prostate plans, development of an automated post-optimization procedure was required to achieve precise control over the dose distribution. Automatic and manually optimized plans were compared for 20 head and neck (H&N), 20 prostate, and 20 rectum cancer patients. Results: Based on simple automation protocols, the automatic optimizer was not always able to generate adequate treatment plans. For the improved final configurations for the three sites, the dose was lower in automatic plans compared to the manual plans in 12 out of 13 considered OARs. In blind tests, the automatic plans were preferred in 80% of cases. Conclusions: With adequate, advanced, protocols the automatic planning approach is able to create high-quality treatment plans.
This article presents a variety of treatment approaches based on an understanding of four components of communication, and describes cluttering intervention focusing on problem identification, speech rate reduction, appropriate pausing, appropriate monitoring, and addressing story narrating skills. Therapeutic considerations, taking into account the specific characteristics of cluttering, will also be presented. Finally, building clients’ confidence, emotional skills, and sense of accomplishment will turn the therapeutic process into awareness of realistic expectations and motivation to pursue challenging goals. Cluttering is a disorder of speech fluency in which people are not capable of adequately adjusting their speech rate to the syntactical or phonological demands of the moment (van Zaalen, 2009). When language production is relatively easy, people with cluttering (PWC) are capable of producing fluent and intelligible speech. When language production demands are more complex, the speech rate should be adjusted to the language complexity. PWC tend to have difficulties doing so. This reduced ability of PWC to control their speech rate results in either a higher than normal frequency of disfluencies or multiple speech errors. This article presents various intervention approaches based on an understanding of four components of communication: cognitive, emotional, verbal-motor, and communicative. The article focuses on problem identification, speech rate reduction, appropriate pausing, and addressing monitoring and story narrating skills. Therapeutic considerations, taking into account the specific characteristics of cluttering, will also be presented.
Purpose/objective: Stereotactic radiosurgery of brain metastases requires highly conformal dose distributions. Besides beams setup, characteristics of the linear accelerator collimator may also play a role. In this study we compared the impact of leaf width on the dose outside the target for stereotactic radiosurgery of single brain metastases. Results: The mean dose was evaluated in the first 2 rings of 5 mm around the PTV(table 1). The difference in mean dose for the small lesions(Dpres=24 Gy) of the first ring of 5 mm is 1.8 Gy in favor of the Agility and 0.9 Gy for the larger lesions(Dpres=18 Gy)also in favor of the Agility. The difference is smaller for the larger lesions (figure1). Also for the second ring of 5 mm, adjacent to the first ring, the difference is is 1.1 Gy vs 0.8 Gy also in favor of the Agility. Conclusion: For the small lesions with a volume smaller than 4 cm³ the Agility shows a steeper gradient in the two surrounding rings than the MLCi1. Therefore we recommend the use of the Agility for treating the smaller lesions.
Hoewel cariës (gaatjes in het gebit) eenvoudig te voorkomen is heeft bijna de helft van alle vijfjarige kinderen cariës. Hiervan leidt naar schatting 10% aan ernstige cariës. Ernstige cariës op jonge leeftijd beperkt de algemene gezondheid, de kwaliteit van leven en belemmert de algemene ontwikkeling. Hoewel het een wettelijke basistaak van jeugdgezondheidszorg is, ontbreekt bij het consultatiebureau (CB) de focus op mondzorg. Adviezen op het CB over mondzorg en bezoek aan een mondzorgprofessional vanaf twee jaar blijken niet effectief. Slechts 33% van de kinderen in de leeftijd van 0-4 jaar heeft eenmaal een tandarts bezocht. Preventie in mondgezondheid bij peuters komt te laat en dit raakt met name kinderen uit de lagere sociale klassen. De schade is dan vaak al aanzienlijk en bij ernstige cariës is behandeling onder algehele anesthesie vaak vereist. Naast het feit dat kinderen te laat een mondzorgprofessional bezoeken, zijn er in Nederland geen interventies ter bevordering van mondgezondheid van peuters die voldoende onderbouwd, transparant en (kosten)effectief zijn. In dit gerandomiseerde praktijkonderzoek wordt het effect geëvalueerd van een preventief mondzorgprogramma gericht op het verbeteren van de mondgezondheid bij peuters in vergelijking met usual care. Daarmee wordt tegemoet gekomen aan de urgentie van de evaluatie van preventieve en zelfzorg bevorderende interventies gericht op jonge kinderen en het reduceren van ongelijkheden binnen de mondzorg. Gebaseerd op het succesvolle Schotse Childsmile zal er vanuit de eerstelijns mondzorg een mondzorgcoach (MZC) bij het consultatiebureau gedetacheerd worden om deze JGZ basistaak te ondersteunen. De MZC zal tijdens reguliere CB-bezoeken geïndividualiseerd preventief mondzorgadvies geven aan ouders op basis van het effectief gebleken non–operative caries treatment and prevention (NOCTP) principe. Bij succes van de MZC wordt een forse stijging verwacht van het aantal cariësvrije peuters (30%), een aanmerkelijke cariësreductie per kind (30%, ofwel circa 1,5 gaatje) en een significante kostenreductie.
communicative participation, language disordersOBJECTIVE(S)/RESEARCH QUESTION(S) Speech and language therapists (SLTs) are the primary care professionals to treat language and communication disorders. Their treatment is informed by a variety of outcome measures. At present, diagnosis, monitoring of progress and evaluation are often based on performance-based and clinician-reported outcomes such as results of standardized speech, language, voice, or communication tests. These tests typically aim to capture how well the person can produce or understand language in a controlled situation, and therefore only provide limited insight in the person’s challenges in life. Performance measures do not incorporate the unobservable feelings such as a patient's effort, social embarrassment, difficulty, or confidence in communication. Nor do they address language and communication difficulties experienced by the person themselves, the impact on daily life or allow patients to set goals related to their own needs and wishes. The aim of our study is give our patients a voice and empower SLTs to incorporate their patient's perspective in planning therapy. We will Aangemaakt door ProjectNet / Generated by ProjectNet: 08-12-2020 12:072Subsidieaanvraag_digitaal / Grant Application_digitaalDossier nummer / Dossier number: 80-86900-98-041DEFINITIEFdevelop a valid and reliable patient-reported outcome measure that provides information on communicative participation of people with communication disorders and integrate this item bank in patient specific goal setting in speech and language therapy. Both the item bank and the goal setting method will be adapted in cocreation with patients to enable access for people with communication difficulties.STUDY DESIGN Mixed methods research design following the MRC guidance for process evaluation of complex interventions, using PROMIS methodology including psychometric evaluation and an iterative user-centered design with qualitative co-creation methods to develop accessible items and the goal setting method.RESEARCH POPULATION Children, adolescents and adults with speech, language, hearing, and voice disorders.OUTCOME MEASURES An online patient-reported outcome measure on communicative participation, the Communicative Participation Item Bank (CPIB), CPIB items that are accessible for people with language understanding difficulties, a communicative-participation person-specific goal setting method developed with speech and language therapists and patients and tested on usability and feasibility in clinical practice, and a course for SLTs explaining the use of the goal-setting method in their clinical reasoning process.RELEVANCE This study answers one of the prioritized questions in the call for SLTs to systematically and reliably incorporate the clients’ perspective in their daily practice to improve the quality of SLT services. At present patient reported outcomes play only a small role in speech and language therapy because 1) measures (PROMS) are often invalid, not implemented and unsuitable for clinical practice and 2) there is a knowledge gap in how to capture and interpret outcomes from persons with language disorders.
