[Impact of Aperture Shape Controller on Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy Treatment Planning for Nasopharyngeal Cancer].

PURPOSE: The aperture shape controller (ASC) decreases the complexity of the multi-leaf collimator (MLC) aperture for volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of ASC settings on the VMAT plan quality. METHOD: First, VMAT plans were created (ASC=off) for three test patterns of The American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) Task Group 119 (TG-119) and 20 cases of nasopharyngeal cancer. Next, for these VMAT plans, only the ASC settings were changed from very low (complexity reduction: low) to very high (complexity reduction: high) in five steps, and VMAT plans were created respectively. To evaluate the created VMAT plans per each ASC settings, we analyzed the modulation complexity score (MCSV) and dosimetric parameters for the planning target volume (PTV) and organ at risk (OAR). RESULT: In three test patterns, there were no major dosimetric differences between the VMAT plans. In nasopharyngeal cancer, the mean MCSV were 0.413, 0.325, 0.320, 0.307, 0.303, and 0.272 for very high, high, moderate, low, very low, off settings, respectively. Therefore, the most complex MLC aperture was off, followed by very low, low, moderate, high, and very high. In terms of dosimetric parameters, the VMAT plans created using the very high setting showed an increase of D2% in the PTV and worse OAR sparing than that using other ASC settings. On the other hand, the dosimetric results for the very low to moderate setting obtained similar results to those for the off setting, respectively. CONCLUSION: The ASC was able to decrease the complexity of the MLC aperture according to the setting level. From very low to moderate settings, a plan equivalent to the off setting could be created in terms of dose parameters.

[Impact of DVH Outliers Registered in Knowledge-based Planning on Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy Treatment Planning for Prostate Cancer].

RapidPlan, a knowledge-based planning software, uses a model library containing the dose-volume histogram (DVH) of previous treatment plans, and it automatically provides optimization objectives based on a trained model to future patients for volumetric modulated arc therapy treatment planning. However, it is unknown how DVH outliers registered in models influence the resulting plans. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of DVH outliers on the resulting quality of RapidPlan knowledge-based plans generated for patients with prostate cancer. First, 123 plans for patients with prostate cancer were used to populate the initial model (modelall). Next, modelall-20 and modelall-40 were created by excluding DVH outliers of bladder optimization contours 20 and 40 patients from modelall, respectively. These models were used to create plans for a 20-patient. The plans created using modelall-40 showed reductions of D30% and D50% in the bladder wall dose, and the DVH shape excluding outliers were affected. However, there were no significant differences in monitor units, target doses, or bladder wall doses between each treatment plan. Thus, we have shown that removal of DVH outliers from models does not affect the quality of plans created by the model.

[Impact of Respiratory Motion on Dose Variation in Radiation Therapy for Glottic Cancer].

In radiation therapy for glottic cancer, respiratory motion of larynx may change the dose variation in the target. The purpose of this study is to measure the respiratory motion of the larynx, and quantify the impact of the motion on the dose variation. This study included 10 patients treated by opposing portal irradiation for glottic cancer. We acquired fluoroscopy and respiratory waveform of the patients simultaneously and formulated the relationship between the displacement of larynx and the respiratory phase. We divided one field into 39 sub-fields on the basis of control points. Dose distributions accounting for the displacement were calculated by shifting isocenter calculated using the formula in every sub-fields. Dose variations of clinical target volume (CTV) were evaluated by subtracting dose distributions with displacement consideration and dose distributions without it. Average amplitude and the maximum amplitude of respiratory motion were 2.5 and 8.7 mm, respectively. Average of mean dose variation in CTV was 0.1% of the prescribed dose, and maximum of local dose variation was 2.0% of the prescribed dose. Hence, it is realized that dose variation in CTV by respiratory motion was slight.

Impact of Jaw Position Accuracy on Dose Variation in Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy Using Jaw Tracking.

The technique of jaw tracking can be used in volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) and intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT). In this technique, jaw tracks apertures of the multi leaf collimator (MLC) during irradiation. It is reported that dose variation is occurred by the changing accuracy of MLC position in VMAT and IMRT. Though jaw moves dynamically in the irradiation by using this technique, the influence of the jaw position accuracy on dose variation is not examined. The purpose of this study is to verify the influence of jaw position accuracy on dose variation in VMAT using jaw tracking. We appended intentional errors on jaw position in digital image communication in medicine-radiation therapy (DICOM-RT) plans created using jaw tracking technique. These plans were irradiated on the phantom that was inserted ion chamber, and we measured dose variation by changing the intentional error. The dose variation in planning target volume (PTV) was enlarged by increasing the error, and agreed with the variation of a collimator scatter factor within 0.03%. In clinical case of oropharyngeal cancer, the maximum dose variations in parotid gland were 0.179% and 1.23% when the errors were 1 mm and 10 mm, respectively. Dose variation in parotid gland was larger than the variation in PTV and spinal cord because of increasing MLC transmission. The dose variation caused by jaw position error was smaller than it caused by MLC position error. So, we can keep the dose error slightly that is related to jaw position error in VMAT by maintaining jaw position accuracy correctly.

High-dose-rate interstitial brachytherapy for gynecologic malignancies--dosimetric changes during treatment period.

To overcome cranio-caudal needle displacement in pelvic high-dose-rate interstitial brachytherapy (HDRIB), we have been utilizing a fullystretched elastic tape to thrust the template into the perineum. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate dosimetric changes during the treatment period using this thrusting method, and to explore reproducible planning methods based on the results of the dosimetric changes. Twenty-nine patients with gynecologic malignancies were treated with HDRIB at the Cancer Institute Hospital. Pre-treatment and post-treatment computed tomography (CT) scans were acquired and a virtual plan for post-treatment CT was produced by applying the dwell positions/times of the original plan. For the post-treatment plan, D90 for the clinical target volume (CTV) and D2cc for the rectum and bladder were assessed and compared with that for the original plan. Cranio-caudal needle displacement relative to CTV during treatment period was only 0.7 ± 1.9 mm. The mean D90 values for the CTV in the pre- and post-treatment plans were stable (6.8 Gy vs. 6.8 Gy) and the post-treatment/pre-treatment D90 ratio was 1.00 ± 0.08. The post-/pre-treatment D2cc ratio was 1.14 ± 0.22 and the mean D2cc for the rectum increased for the post-treatment plan (5.4 Gy vs. 6.1 Gy), especially when parametrial infiltration was present. The mean D2cc for the bladder was stable (6.3 Gy vs. 6.6 Gy) and the ratio was 1.06 ± 0.20. Our thrusting method achieved a stable D90 for the CTV, in contrast to previous prostate HDRIB reports displaying reductions of 35-40% for D90 during the treatment period.

[Examination of formula for enhanced dynamic wedge factors in symmetric and asymmetric fields].

We proposed a formula for the enhanced dynamic wedge (EDW) factor in the half-field (HF) that combined the formula proposed by Liu et al. in 1998 and their formula in 2003. When the EDW was used for irradiation to the tangent line of the HF breast, the values calculated by our formula and the measured values were consistent within 0.5%. We showed that our proposed formula was useful, easy to use, and more accurate than the conventional formula. The purpose of this study was to examine the available range of the wedge factor of symmetrical and asymmetric EDW calculated by our formula. As a result of the examination, the values calculated by our formula and the measured values were consistent within 2% except for highly asymmetric EDW. We created a spreadsheet to calculate the wedge factor easily and accurately. We will examine the reason why the calculated and measured values were greater than 2%, and improve our formula so that it can be used in a wider range.