Abstract
Purpose:To compare the treatment plan quality and dose gradient near the hippocampus between VMAT (RapidArc) and IMRT delivery techniques for whole brain radiation therapy.Methods:Fifteen patients were evaluated in this retrospective study. All treatments were planned on Varian Eclipse TPS, using 3‐Arc VMAT and 9‐Field IMRT, following NRG Oncology protocol NRG‐CC001 guidelines evaluated by a single radiation oncologist. Prescribed doses in all plans were 30 Gy delivered over 10 fractions normalized to a minimum of 100% of the dose covering 95% of the target volume. Identical contour sets and dose‐volume constraints following protocol guidelines were also applied in all plans. A paired t‐test analysis was used to compare VMAT and IMRT plans.Results:NRG‐CC001 protocol dose‐volume constraints were met for all VMAT and IMRT plans. For the planning target volume (PTV), the average values for D2% and D98% were 6% lower and 4% higher in VMAT than in IMRT, respectively. The average mean and maximum hippocampus doses in Gy for VMAT vs IMRT plans were (11.85±0.81 vs. 12.24±0.56, p=0.10) and (16.27±0.78 vs. 16.59±0.71, p=0.24), respectively. In VMAT, the average mean and maximum chiasm doses were 3% and 1% higher than in IMRT plans, respectively. For the left optic nerve, the average mean and maximum doses were 10% and 5% higher in VMAT than in IMRT plans, respectively. These values were 12% and 3% for the right optic nerve. The average percentage of dose gradient around the hippocampus in the 0–5mm and 5–10mm abutted regions for VMAT vs. IMRT were (4.42%±2.22% /mm vs. 3.95%±2.61% /mm, p=0.43) and (4.54%±1.50% /mm vs. 4.39%±1.28% /mm, p=0.73), respectively.Conclusion:VMAT plans can achieve higher hippocampus sparing with a faster dose fall‐off than IMRT plans. Though statistically insignificant, VMAT offers better PTV coverage with slightly higher doses to OARs.
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