A dosimetric evaluation of IGART strategies for cervix cancer treatment

Abstract

PurposeImage guided adaptive radiotherapy (IGART) strategies can be used to include the temporal aspects of radiotherapy treatment. A dosimetric evaluation of on- and off-line adaptive strategies are done in this study. MethodsA library of equivalent uniform dose (EUD)-based Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy Treatment plans with incrementally increasing clinical target volume (CTV)-to-planning target volume (PTV) margins were developed for 10 patients. Utilizing daily computed tomography (CT) images an on-line strategy using a margin-of-the-day (MOD) concept that selects the best plan from the library was employed. This was compared to an off-line strategy with full analysis of accumulated dose between fractions where dosimetric deviations from the treatment intent triggered plan adaptation. A fixed margin treatment approach was used as benchmark. ResultsUsing fixed margins of <15mm lead to under-dosages of more than 5Gy in total delivered dose. The average CTV EUD for the off-line and on-line strategy was 50.0±5.0Gy and 50.4±2.0Gy respectively and OAR doses were comparable. ConclusionA fixed margin treatment approach yields a significant probability of CTV under-dosage. Using EUD dose metrics CTV coverage can be restored in both the off-line and on-line adaptive strategies at acceptable OAR dose levels. Considering the workload and time on the treatment machine, the off-line strategy proves to be sufficient and more practical.