Abstract
Purpose: The purpose of this work was to propose an online replanning algorithm, named intensity field projection (IFP), that directly adjusts intensity distributions for each beam based on the deformation of structures. IFP can be implemented within a reasonably acceptable time frame.Methods and Materials: The online replanning method is based on the gradient-based free form deformation (GFFD) algorithm, which we have previously proposed. The method involves the following steps: The planning computed tomography (CT) and cone-beam CT image are registered to generate a three-dimensional (3-D) deformation field. According to the 3-D deformation field, the registered image and a new delineation are generated. The two-dimensional (2-D) deformation field of ray intensity in each beam direction is determined based on the 3-D deformation field in the region of interest. The 2-D ray intensity distribution in the corresponding beam direction is deformed to generate a new 2-D ray intensity distribution. According to the new 2-D ray intensity distribution, corresponding multi-leaf collimator (MLC), and jaw motion data are generated. The feasibility and advantages of our method have been demonstrated in 20 lung cancer intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) cases.Results: Substantial underdosing in the CTV is seen in the original and the repositioning plans. The average prescription dose coverage (V100%) and D95 for CTV were 100% and 60.3 Gy for the IFP plans compared to 82.6% (P < 0.01) and 44.0 Gy (P < 0.01) for original plans, 86.7% (P < 0.01), and 58.5 Gy (P < 0.01) for repositioning plans. On average, the mean total lung doses were 12.2 Gy for the IFP plan compared to the 12.4 Gy (P < 0.01) and 12.6 Gy (P < 0.01) for the original and the repositioning plans. The entire process of IFP can be completed within 3 min.Conclusions: We proposed an online replanning strategy for automatically correcting interfractional anatomy variations. The preliminary results indicate that the IFP method substantially increased planning speed for online adaptive replanning.
Highlights
Adaptive radiotherapy (ART) has the potential to correct for interfractional variations during radiotherapy [1, 2] by imaging the patients with technologies such as the CT on-rails or cone beam computed tomography (CBCT)
We proposed a fast online replanning algorithm named intensity field projection (IFP)
The process utilizes a 3-D image registration algorithm that we previously proposed, named the gradientbased free form deformation (GFFD) algorithm [14]
Summary
Adaptive radiotherapy (ART) has the potential to correct for interfractional variations during radiotherapy [1, 2] by imaging the patients with technologies such as the CT on-rails or cone beam computed tomography (CBCT). Online ART has not been widely used. Image guided radiotherapy (IGRT) is the current standard practice to account for interfractional variation, which is largely limited by rigid-body matching and is not able to fully correct for anatomic deformations [3,4,5]. To fully correct for the interfractional anatomic variations, it is necessary to re-contour the target and organs at risk (OARs) based on the patient’s daily image. To generate an adaptive plan, the replanning process including re-contouring, plan optimization and quality assurances needs to be completed in a short period of time. Anatomical motion during the replanning time may offset the advantage of online ART
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
