Abstract
Purpose/objectivesDue to higher radiosensitivity, non‐target normal tissue dose is a major concern in stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) treatment. The aim of this report was to estimate the dosimetric impact, specifically the reduction of normal lung dose in the treatment of single‐isocenter/two‐lesion lung SBRT via volumetric modulated arc therapy with jaw tracking (JT‐VMAT).Materials/methodsTwelve patients with two peripherally located early‐stage non‐small‐cell‐lung cancer (NSCLC) lung lesions underwent single‐isocenter highly conformal non‐coplanar JT‐VMAT SBRT treatment in our institution. The mean isocenter to tumors distance was 5.6 ± 1.9 (range 4.3–9.5) cm. The mean combined planning target volume (PTV) was 38.7 ± 22.7 (range 5.0–80.9) cc. A single isocenter was placed between the two lesions. Doses were 54 and 50 Gy in three and five fractions, respectively. Plans were optimized in Eclipse with AcurosXB algorithm utilizing jaw tracking options for the Truebeam with a 6 MV‐FFF beam and standard 120 leaf millennium multi‐leaf collimators. For comparison, the JT‐VMAT plans were retrospectively re‐computed utilizing identical beam geometry, objectives, and planning parameters, but without jaw tracking (no JT‐VMAT). Both plans were normalized to receive the same target coverage. The conformity and heterogeneity indices, intermediate‐dose spillage [D2cm, R50, Gradient Index (GI), Gradient Distance (GD)], organs at risks (OAR) doses including normal lung as well as modulation factor (MF) were compared for both plans.ResultsFor similar target coverage, GI, R50, GD, as well as the normal lung V5, V10, V20, mean lung dose (MLD), and maximum dose received by 1000 cc of lungs were statistically significant. Normal lung doses were reduced by 8%–11% with JT‐VMAT. Normal lung dose increased as a function of tumor distance from isocenter. For the other OAR, up to 1%–16% reduction of non‐target doses were observed with JT‐VMAT. The MF and beam‐on time were similar for both plans, however, MF increased as a function of tumors distance, consequently, delivering higher dose to normal lungs.ConclusionUtilizing jaw tracking options during optimization for single‐isocenter/two‐lesion lung SBRT VMAT plans reduced doses to the normal lung and other OAR, reduced intermediate‐dose spillage and provided superior/similar target coverage. Application of jaw tracking did not affect delivery efficiency and provided excellent plan quality with similar MF and beam‐on time. Jaw tracking is recommended for future clinical SBRT plan optimization.
Highlights
For similar target coverage, Gradient Index (GI), R50, Gradient Distance (GD), as well as the normal lung V5, V10, V20, mean lung dose (MLD), and maximum dose received by 1000 cc of lungs were statistically significant
Normal lung doses were reduced by 8%–11% with jaw tracking (JT)‐volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT)
For the other organs at risks (OAR), up to 1%–16% reduction of non‐target doses were observed with JT‐VMAT
Summary
Recent advances in stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) technology have greatly improved the ability to deliver conformal therapeutic tumor dose with a biological effective dose (BED) of greater than 100 Gy while minimizing the dose to the adjacent organs at risk (OAR).[1,2,3] Several studies have shown that safely delivering a higher BED to the lung lesions improved therapeutic ratio and local control rates.[4,5,6,7,8,9,10] In addition, utilizing volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) planning with a flattening filter free (FFF) beam in lung SBRT treatment reduced the total number of monitor units (MUs)[11,12] and the treatment time compared to intensity modulated radiotherapy, Tomotherapy, or CyberKnife.[13,14,15,16] Reduction in MUs provides faster treatment delivery that can improve patient comfort, decrease potential setup/motion related errors and promote efficient clinical workflow. Due to the higher radiosensitivity, non‐target normal tissue dose is one of the major concerns for SBRT treatments.[24,25,26,27] if the jaws move to track MLC positions (called jaw tracking, JT technique on Truebeam), the radiation transmitted, and leakage dose to the normal tissues can be reduced
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