Flashes of light-radiation therapy to the brain

Blumenthal, Deborah T.; Corn, Benjamin W.; Shtraus, Natan

doi:10.1016/j.radonc.2015.07.034

Cited by 13 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 12 publications

(11 reference statements)

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“…Tendler et al visualized Cherenkov light in the eye during SRT [2]. It is generally considered that light flashes are phenomena that occur in radiotherapy to the brain or head and neck area [8][9][10], and in the current study, the dose to the retina was the significant factor associated with a light flash. For example, in a chordoma case treated with proton therapy at our center, the retina is covered with a full dose in the initial plan, and then the treatment field is shrunk and the retina dose is reduced to doses of 50% and 0%.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 51%

Light flashes during proton and photon radiotherapy: A multicenter prospective observational study

Mizumoto

Oshiro

Miyamoto

et al. 2021

Technical Innovations & Patient Support in Radiation Oncolo

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Highlights A total of 88 patients experienced light flashes among 416 who received photon radiotherapy and 205 who received proton beam therapy in our prospective study. The frequency of light flashes during radiotherapy was associated with the retina dose and younger age, and were commonly blue or white light for brain or head and neck irradiation. Light flashes were seen by only 35/524 patients (6.7%) without retinal irradiation, but by 13/33 (39.4%) and 41/64 (64.1%) with retinal maximum isodose lines of 10–50% and 60–100%, respectively. Totals of 52, 15, 15, 9, 16 and 8 patients sensed light of blue, purple, yellow, red, white and other colors, respectively.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 51%

Light flashes during proton and photon radiotherapy: A multicenter prospective observational study

Mizumoto

Oshiro

Miyamoto

et al. 2021

Technical Innovations & Patient Support in Radiation Oncolo

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show abstract

“…Light flash or odor during radiation therapy is a well-known phenomenon among radiation oncologists, but has not been evaluated in detail because it does not cause harm to the patient (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7). Cherenkov light is thought to be the main cause of the light flash during irradiation, but no clear conclusion has been reached (8)(9)(10).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Light flash and odor during proton beam therapy for pediatric patients: a prospective observational study

et al. 2022

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Light flash and odor during radiation therapy are well-known phenomena, but the details are poorly understood, particularly in pediatric patients. Therefore, we conducted a prospective observational study of these events in pediatric patients (age ≤20 years old) who received radiotherapy at our center from January 2019 to November 2021. Light flash and odor were evaluated using a patient-reported checklist including the presence, strength, and duration of the phenomenon, and color of light or type of odor. 53 patients who received proton therapy (n=47) and photon radiotherapy (n=6) were enrolled in this study. The median age of the patients was 10, ranged from 5 to 20. The patients who was able to see the light flash was 4, and all of them received retina irradiation. This was equivalent to 57% of the patients who received radiotherapy to retina (n=7). The light was bright and colored mainly blue and purple, which seemed to be consistent with Cherenkov light. Odor was sensed by 9 (17%) patients, and seven patients of the 9 received nasal cavity irradiation. This was equivalent to 41% of the patients who received nasal cavity irradiation (n=17). Other 2 patients received proton therapy to brain tumor. The odors were mainly described as plastic, burnt and disinfectant, which may be caused by ozone generated during irradiation. These data suggest that pediatric patients with retinal and nasal cavity irradiation frequently sense light flashes or odor. So adequate care is necessary so that these patients are not worried about this phenomenon.

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“…Thus, VLPs were mostly experienced by either astronauts [6] or patients who received radiation therapy (RT) for brain tumors [7]. The results of correlation studies have indicated that the retina is responsible for visual signal transmissions to multiple areas of the brain.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Visual light perceptions caused by medical linear accelerator: Findings of machine-learning algorithms in a prospective questionnaire-based case–control study

Kuo

Lee

et al. 2021

PLoS ONE

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This study aimed to investigate the possible incidence of visual light perceptions (VLPs) during radiation therapy (RT). We analyzed whether VLPs could be affected by differences in the radiation energy, prescription doses, age, sex, or RT locations, and whether all VLPs were caused by radiation. From November 2016 to August 2018, a total of 101 patients who underwent head-and-neck or brain RT were screened. After receiving RT, questionnaires were completed, and the subjects were interviewed. Random forests (RF), a tree-based machine learning algorithm, and logistic regression (LR) analyses were compared by the area under the curve (AUC), and the algorithm that achieved the highest AUC was selected. The dataset sample was based on treatment with non-human units, and a total of 293 treatment fields from 78 patients were analyzed. VLPs were detected only in 122 of the 293 exposure portals (40.16%). The dataset was randomly divided into 80% and 20% as the training set and test set, respectively. In the test set, RF achieved an AUC of 0.888, whereas LR achieved an AUC of 0.773. In this study, the retina fraction dose was the most important continuous variable and had a positive effect on VLP. Age was the most important categorical variable. In conclusion, the visual light perception phenomenon by the human body during RT is induced by radiation rather than being a self-suggested hallucination or induced by phosphenes.

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Flashes of light-radiation therapy to the brain

Cited by 13 publications

References 12 publications

Light flashes during proton and photon radiotherapy: A multicenter prospective observational study

Light flashes during proton and photon radiotherapy: A multicenter prospective observational study

Light flash and odor during proton beam therapy for pediatric patients: a prospective observational study

Visual light perceptions caused by medical linear accelerator: Findings of machine-learning algorithms in a prospective questionnaire-based case–control study

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