SU‐E‐QI‐13: Predictable Models for Radio‐Sensitizing Agent Kinetics: Application to Stereotactic Synchrotron Radiation Therapy

Abstract

Purpose:Iodine‐enhanced radiotherapy is an innovative treatment combining the selective accumulation of an iodinated contrast agent in brain tumors with irradiations using monochromatic medium energy x‐rays. The radiation dose enhancement depends on the time course of iodine in the tumors. A prolonged CT scanning (∼30 min) is required to follow‐up iodine kinetics for recruited patients. This protocol could lead to substantial radiation dose to the patient. A novel method is proposed to reduce the acquisition time.Methods:12 patients received an intravenous bolus of iodinated contrast agent, followed by a steady‐state infusion to ensure stable intra‐tumoral amounts of iodine during the treatment. Absolute iodine concentrations (IC) were derived from 40 multi‐slice dynamic conventional CT images of the brain. The impulse response function (IRF) to the bolus was estimated using the adiabatic approximation of the Johnson and Wilson's model. The arterial input function (AIF) of the steady‐state infusion was fitted with several models: Gamma, Gamma with recirculation and hybrid. Estimated IC were calculated by convolving the IRF with the modeled AIF and were compared to the measured data.Results:The gamma variate function was not relevant to model the AIF due to high differences with the measured AIF. The hybrid and the gamma with recirculation models provided differences below 8% during the whole acquisition time. The absolute difference between the measured and the estimated IC was lower than 0.5 mg/ml, which corresponds to 5% of dose enhancement error.Conclusion:The proposed method allows a good estimation of the iodine time course with reduced scanning delays (3 instead of 30 min) and dose to the patient. The results suggest that the dose errors may stay within the radiotherapy standards.