Abstract
We report on a two-phase test performed to assess the ability of the ultrasound-based B-mode acquisition and targeting (BAT) trans-abdominal system to identify non-dedicated fiducial markers implanted into the prostate gland for subsequent image-guided radiotherapy.Although further investigation is warranted in order to identify the optimal echogenic marker and to define its potential use for image-guided radiotherapy in prostate cancer patients, we demonstrate the feasibility of the BAT system for the visualization of non-ultrasound-dedicated markers.
Highlights
Dose escalation improves biochemical and clinical control in prostate cancer treated with external beam radiotherapy (EBRT), as demonstrated by several retrospective and prospective randomized studies [1,2,3,4,5]
Several authors report that the fiducial marker-based image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT) is the most reliable, it does not allow for soft tissue imaging [6]
We tested the ability of the B-mode acquisition and targeting (BAT) system to visualize a set of standard gold fiducial markers (VisiCoil, RadioMed Corporation, USA; 0.75 mm in diameter and 10 mm in length) already used in our department for ExacTrac prostate cancer IGRT
Summary
Dose escalation improves biochemical and clinical control in prostate cancer treated with external beam radiotherapy (EBRT), as demonstrated by several retrospective and prospective randomized studies [1,2,3,4,5]. Whenever a dose of >70 Gy is administered, the irradiated volume should be reduced in order to avoid excessive damage to the surrounding normal tissue. In clinical practice, such volume reduction has become feasible with the introduction of image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT). Various systems are routinely used in many departments for daily localization of the prostate during radiotherapy, i.e. implanted fiducial markers with x-ray, onboard computed tomography (CT) or dedicated ultrasound (US) IGRT systems. Among these methods, the US system is probably the fastest. Several authors report that the fiducial marker-based IGRT is the most reliable, it does not allow for soft tissue (prostate, seminal vesicles, rectum, urinary bladder) imaging [6]
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