3D Image-based Brachytherapy Research Articles

2474: Factors affecting D90 HR-CTV of 3D image-based brachytherapy in locally advanced cervical cancer

2474: Factors affecting D90 HR-CTV of 3D image-based brachytherapy in locally advanced cervical cancer

Role of Brachytherapy in the Postoperative Management of Endometrial Cancer: Decision-Making Analysis among Experienced European Radiation Oncologists.

Simple SummaryThere are various society-specific guidelines addressing adjuvant brachytherapy (BT) after surgery for endometrial cancer (EC). However, these recommendations are not uniform. Against this background, clinicians need to make decisions despite gaps between best scientific evidence and clinical practice. We analysed decision criteria influencing the selection for adjuvant radiotherapy among European radiation oncology experts. For this, GEC-ESTRO provided 19 European radiation oncology experts on gynaecological brachytherapy for decision-making analyses. The manuscript presents patterns in decision-making among these experts and demonstrates areas of consensus/discrepancies. We also analysed dose prescription and techniques of brachytherapy. This analysis is of special value as the objective approach enabled us to obtain an unbiased description of decision-making among the specialists (the study was not aimed to create or enforce a consensus). The manuscript provides valuable insight into clinical decision-making with a high impact on treatment selection, as expected differences between experts were observed. With this manuscript we are able to visualize and quantify these. This information is relevant for interdisciplinary discussions.Background: There are various society-specific guidelines addressing adjuvant brachytherapy (BT) after surgery for endometrial cancer (EC). However, these recommendations are not uniform. Against this background, clinicians need to make decisions despite gaps between best scientific evidence and clinical practice. We explored factors influencing decision-making for adjuvant BT in clinical routine among experienced European radiation oncologists in the field of gynaecological radiotherapy (RT). We also investigated the dose and technique of BT. Methods: Nineteen European experts for gynaecological BT selected by the Groupe Européen de Curiethérapie and the European Society for Radiotherapy & Oncology provided their decision criteria and technique for postoperative RT in EC. The decision criteria were captured and converted into decision trees, and consensus and dissent were evaluated based on the objective consensus methodology. Results: The decision criteria used by the experts were tumour extension, grading, nodal status, lymphovascular invasion, and cervical stroma/vaginal invasion (yes/no). No expert recommended adjuvant BT for pT1a G1-2 EC without substantial LVSI. Eighty-four percent of experts recommended BT for pT1a G3 EC without substantial LVSI. Up to 74% of experts used adjuvant BT for pT1b LVSI-negative and pT2 G1–2 LVSI-negative disease. For 74–84% of experts, EBRT + BT was the treatment of choice for nodal-positive pT2 disease and for pT3 EC with cervical/vaginal invasion. For all other tumour stages, there was no clear consensus for adjuvant treatment. Four experts already used molecular markers for decision-making. Sixty-five percent of experts recommended fractionation regimens of 3 × 7 Gy or 4 × 5 Gy for BT as monotherapy and 2 × 5 Gy for combination with EBRT. The most commonly used applicator for BT was a vaginal cylinder; 82% recommended image-guided BT. Conclusions: There was a clear trend towards adjuvant BT for stage IA G3, stage IB, and stage II G1–2 LVSI-negative EC. Likewise, there was a non-uniform pattern for BT dose prescription but a clear trend towards 3D image-based BT. Finally, molecular characteristics were already used in daily decision-making by some experts under the pretext that upcoming trials will bring more clarity to this topic.

Three-Dimensional Guided Perineal-Based Interstitial Brachytherapy in Cervical Cancer: A Systematic Review of Technique, Local Control, and Toxicities

Objective: To evaluate local control and toxicities of perineal-based interstitial brachytherapy (P-ISBT) in cervical cancers treated with three-dimensional (3D) image-based planning through a systematic review. The secondary objective of this review is to summarize the implant and dosimetric techniques in 3D P-ISBT. Systematic review of the literature using the PRISMA guideline was conducted through a search of Medline, EMBASE and Cochrane databases. This search resulted in 19 relevant manuscripts. Selected studies evaluated the role of perineal ISBT in cervical tumours treated using 3D planning. Eleven of nineteen manuscripts contained sufficient information for LC and toxicity calculations. Data was extracted by at least two investigators. A total of 672 cervical cancer patients were treated with P-ISBT and planned with 3D image-based planning. Clinical outcomes could be identified for 392 patients and 60% were staged IIIB or higher. Most patients received 45-50.4 Gy EBRT to the pelvis followed by an P-ISBT boost with a range of dose between 28 to 48 Gy EQD2Gy. Overall LC was 79% (310/392) with a median follow-up ranging from 14 to 55 months. Almost half of the patients (48%) had a median follow-up ≥ 35 months. Patients treated to a lower tumour EQD2Gy total dose had inferior LC. Procedure-related complications were rare (7 infections and 7 episodes of bleeding) and limited. Combined late gastro-intestinal, genitourinary and vaginal grade 3 and 4 toxicity was 12.1%. Promising LC rates were found in patients with cervical cancers treated with perineal ISBT with 3D image-based planning. In this systematic review, 60% had stage IIIB disease or higher and yet a LC rate of 79 % was found. LC seemed to correlate with the dose delivered to the tumour, while toxicity rates were similar to other cervical cancer series using 3D image-based brachytherapy. Perineal ISBT with 3D planning seems to be an effective and safe treatment for large advanced cervical tumours and may be a reasonable alternative to the increasingly more standard and modern intracavitary/interstitial approaches such as the ‘Vienna’ applicator.

Three-dimensional-guided perineal-based interstitial brachytherapy in cervical cancer: A systematic review of technique, local control and toxicities

ObjectiveTo evaluate local control and toxicities of perineal-based interstitial brachytherapy (P-ISBT) in cervical cancers treated with three-dimensional (3D) image-based planning through a systematic review. The secondary objective of this review is to summarize the implant and dosimetric techniques in 3D P-ISBT. MethodsSystematic review of the literature using the PRISMA guideline was conducted through a search of Medline, EMBASE and Cochrane databases. This search resulted in 19 relevant manuscripts. Selected studies evaluated the role of perineal ISBT in cervical tumours treated using 3D planning. Eleven of nineteen manuscripts contained sufficient information for LC and toxicity calculations. Data were extracted by at least two investigators. ResultsA total of 672 cervical cancer patients were treated with P-ISBT and planned with 3D image-based planning. Clinical outcomes could be identified for 392 patients and 60% were staged IIIB or higher. Most patients received 45–50.4Gy EBRT to the pelvis followed by a P-ISBT boost with a range of dose between 28 and 48Gy EQD2Gy. Overall LC was 79% (310/392) with a median follow-up ranging from 14 to 55months. Almost half of the patients (48%) had a median follow-up ≥35months. Patients treated to a lower tumour EQD2Gy total dose had inferior LC. Procedure-related complications were rare (7 infections and 7 episodes of bleeding) and limited. Combined late gastro-intestinal, genitourinary and vaginal grade 3 and 4 toxicity was 12.1%. ConclusionPromising LC rates were found in patients with cervical cancers treated with perineal ISBT with 3D image-based planning. In this systematic review, 60% had stage IIIB disease or higher and yet a LC rate of 79% was found. LC seemed to correlate with the dose delivered to the tumour, while toxicity rates were similar to other cervical cancer series using 3D image-based brachytherapy. Perineal ISBT with 3D planning seems to be an effective and safe treatment for large advanced cervical tumours and may be a reasonable alternative to the increasingly more standard and modern intracavitary/interstitial (IC/IS) approaches such as the ‘Vienna’ applicator.

EP-1097: 3D image-based brachytherapy in advanced cervical cancer treatment: the first clinical results

EP-1097: 3D image-based brachytherapy in advanced cervical cancer treatment: the first clinical results

Point ‘A’ Based Vs Target Volume-Based Brachytherapy in Cervical Cancer; Comparison of Dose Volume Parameters and Early Clinical Outcome

In locally advanced cervical cancer, brachytherapy is still widely based on conventional Point ‘A’ based planning. Image-based brachytherapy (IBBT) has been recently introduced and is gaining popularity. In our institute IBBT was introduced in a phased manner and was offered only to a limited group of patients due to limitation of resources. All other patients were treated by conventional Point ‘A’ based 2D planning. The purpose of this study is to compare novel 3D image-based intracavitary brachytherapy with conventional Point ‘A’ based intracavitary brachytherapy in cervical cancer in terms of dose volume parameters and to assess the early clinical benefits of 3D image-based brachytherapy by retrospective matching study.

A Review of Recent Developments in Image-Guided Radiation Therapy in Cervix Cancer

Brachytherapy is an essential part of radiotherapy treatment for cervical cancer. Over the decades, it has evolved from manual loading of radium and caesium to remote after-loaders and from low-dose and medium-dose rates to high-dose rates. Over the past 10 years, 3D image-based Brachytherapy has evolved and established itself as the gold standard, improving local control and overall survival, and significantly reducing toxicity. In this article, we review some of the available literature on gynaecologic brachytherapy, more specifically on topics such as dose rates, high-dose-rate/pulsed-dose-rate (HDR/PDR) brachytherapy and image-based brachytherapy (IBBT), and present some of the evidence that establishes IBBT.

Dose Volume Analysis of Radiotherapy for Inoperable Patients with Stage I–II Endometrial Carcinoma

This study aims to assess the efficacy and toxicity of definitive radiotherapy for early-stage endometrial carcinoma. The correlation between CT-based dosimetric parameters and clinical outcomes is also evaluated. Between 2002 and 2006, 10 medically inoperable patients with T1-2 endometrial carcinoma were treated with radiotherapy alone. A combination of external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) and high-dose-rate intracavitary brachytherapy (HDR-ICBT) was used for 9 patients, and one was treated with HDR-ICBT alone. Dose prescription of HDR-ICBT was determined in reference to CT images at brachytherapy, and a total dose of 22-24 Gy in 4 fractions was delivered to the outer perimeter of the uterine corpus. Dose-volume parameters of the gross tumor volume (GTV), clinical target volume (CTV), and organs at risk were assessed retrospectively using the dose-volume histograms derived from the CT image-based treatment planning system. After a median follow-up of 55 months, 9 patients were alive without evidence of recurrence. One patient died from liver cirrhosis 17 months after radiotherapy. Severe acute and late toxicities were not observed in any of the patients. Average minimum dose to 90% of GTV and CTV (D90) was 88.0 and 45.9 Gy(EQD2), respectively. The minimum dose delivered to 2 cc of the most irradiated volumes of the rectum and sigmoid colon (D(2cc)) was 78.9 and 65.9 Gy(EQD2), respectively. These patients developed Grade 1 late complications. In this study, stage I-II endometrial carcinoma was well-controlled locally with minimum late toxicity by radiotherapy alone with HDR-ICBT. 3D image-based brachytherapy may potentially deliver a sufficiently high dose to the whole tumor without significant increase in dose to surrounding normal tissues.

Ringing the changes: Introducing 3D image-based brachytherapy into routine practice, the Leeds Experience – Phase 1: Doses to OAR

Purpose: We have applied the GEC-ESTRO recommendations for 3D image-based planning in brachytherapy for cervical cancer to enable the change from Joslyn Flynn applicators to the use of CT/MRI compatible tandem and ring applicators. We present the comparative results of these two applicator sets, with respect to the doses to OAR.

High-dose-rate 3D image-based brachytherapy for uterine cervical cancer – evaluation of Japanese cervical cancer protocol based on gynecologic GEC-ESTRO recommendations

High-dose-rate 3D image-based brachytherapy for uterine cervical cancer – evaluation of Japanese cervical cancer protocol based on gynecologic GEC-ESTRO recommendations

Workshop on: 3D Image-based brachytherapy in cervix cancer

Workshop on: 3D Image-based brachytherapy in cervix cancer

Dose volume histogram parameters for organs at risk are influenced by differences in 3D image-based brachytherapy treatment planning for cervix cancer

Purpose: 3D image-guided brachytherapy for cervical cancer is emerging in select US and European centers. The GYN GEC ESTRO Working Group recommended a target concept based on MRI and DVH analysis for organs at risk (OARs). CT-based planning has been used at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) since 2004. The purpose of this study was to retrospectively report the MCW DVH parameters for OARs and compare them to the data published by the Vienna group, inlight of differences in treatment planning approaches.