Planning Benchmark Study for Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy of Liver Metastases: Results of the DEGRO/DGMP Working Group on Stereotactic Radiation Therapy and Radiosurgery.

PURPOSE: Our purpose was to investigate whether liver stereotactic body radiation therapy treatment planning can be harmonized across different treatment planning systems, delivery techniques, and institutions by using a specific prescription method and to minimize the knowledge gap concerning intersystem and interuser differences. We provide best practice guidelines for all used techniques. METHODS AND MATERIALS: A multiparametric specification of target dose (gross target volume [GTV]D50%, GTVD0.1cc, GTVV90%, planning target volume [PTV]V70%) with a prescription dose of GTVD50% = 3 × 20 Gy and organ-at-risk (OAR) limits were distributed with computed tomography and structure sets from 3 patients with liver metastases. Thirty-five institutions provided 132 treatment plans using different irradiation techniques. These plans were first analyzed for target and OAR doses. Four different renormalization methods were performed (PTVDmin, PTVD98%, PTVD2%, PTVDmax). The resulting 660 treatments plans were evaluated regarding target doses to study the effect of dose renormalization to different prescription methods. A relative scoring system was used for comparisons. RESULTS: GTVD50% prescription can be performed in all systems. Treatment plan harmonization was overall successful, with standard deviations for Dmax, PTVD98%, GTVD98%, and PTVDmean of 1.6, 3.3, 1.9, and 1.5 Gy, respectively. Primary analysis showed 55 major deviations from clinical goals in 132 plans, whereas in only <20% of deviations GTV/PTV dose was traded for meeting OAR limits. GTVD50% prescription produced the smallest deviation from target planning objectives and between techniques, followed by the PTVDmax, PTVD98%, PTVD2%, and PTVDmin prescription. Deviations were significant for all combinations but for the PTVDmax prescription compared with GTVD50% and PTVD98%. Based on the various dose prescription methods, all systems significantly differed from each other, whereas GTVD50% and PTVD98% prescription showed the least difference between the systems. CONCLUSIONS: This study showed the feasibility of harmonizing liver stereotactic body radiation therapy treatment plans across different treatment planning systems and delivery techniques when a sufficient set of clinical goals is given.

Triple combination of heat, drug and radiation using alginate hydrogel co-loaded with gold nanoparticles and cisplatin for locally synergistic cancer therapy.

Although multimodal cancer therapy has shown superior antitumor efficacy in comparison to individual therapy due to the potential generation of synergistic interactions among the treatments, its clinical usage is highly hampered by systemic dose-limiting toxicities. Herein, we developed a multi-responsive nanocomplex constructed from alginate hydrogel co-loaded with cisplatin and gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) (abbreviated as ACA) to combine chemotherapy, radiotherapy (RT) and photothermal therapy. The nanocomplex markedly improved the efficiency of drug delivery where ACA resulted in noticeably higher tumor growth inhibition than free cisplatin. The tumor treated with ACA showed an increased heating rate upon 532 nm laser irradiation, indicating the photothermal conversion ability of the nanocomplex. While RT alone resulted in slight tumor growth inhibition, thermo-chemo therapy, chemoradiation therapy and thermo-radio therapy using ACA dramatically slowed down the rate of tumor growth. Upon 532 nm laser and 6 MV X-ray, the nanocomplex could enable a trimodal thermo-chemo-radio therapy that yielded complete tumor regression with no evidence of relapse during the 90-days follow up period. The results of this study demonstrated that the incorporation of AuNPs and cisplatin into alginate hydrogel network can effectively combine chemotherapy, RT and photothermal therapy to achieve a locally synergistic cancer therapy.

A novel approach to SBRT patient quality assurance using EPID-based real-time transit dosimetry : A step to QA with in vivo EPID dosimetry.

PURPOSE: Intra- and inter-fraction organ motion is a major concern in stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT). It may cause substantial differences between the planned and delivered dose distribution. Such delivery errors may lead to medical harm and reduce life expectancy for patients. The project presented here investigates and improves a rapid method to detect such errors by performing online dose verification through the analysis of electronic portal imaging device (EPID) images. METHODS: To validate the method, a respiratory phantom with inhomogeneous insert was examined under various scenarios: no-error and error-simulated measurements. Simulation of respiratory motions was practiced for target ranges up to 2 cm. Three types of treatment planning technique - 3DCRT (three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy), IMRT (intensity modulated radiation therapy), and VMAT (volumetric modulated arc therapy - were generated for lung SBRT. A total of 54 plans were generated to assess the influence of techniques on the performance of portal dose images. Subsequently, EPID images of 52 SBRT patients were verified. Both for phantom and patient cases, dose distributions were compared using the gamma index method according to analysis protocols in the target volume. RESULTS: The comparison of error-introduced EPID-measured images to reference images showed no significant differences with 3%/3 mm gamma evaluation, though target coverage was strongly underestimated. Gamma tolerance of 2%/2 mm reported noticeable detection in EPID sensitivity for simulated errors in 3DCRT and IMRT techniques. The passing rates for 3DCRT, IMRT, and VMAT with 1%/1 mm in open field were 84.86%, 92.91%, and 98.75%, and by considering MLC-CIAO + 1 cm (threshold 5%), were 68.25%, 83.19%, and 95.29%, respectively. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates the feasibility of EPID for detecting the interplay effects. We recommend using thin computed tomography slices and adding sufficient tumor margin in order to limit the dosimetric organ motion in hypofractionated irradiation with preserved plan quality. In the presence of respiratory and gastrointestinal motion, tighter criteria and consequently using local gamma evaluation should be considered, especially for VMAT. This methodology offers a substantial step forward in in vivo dosimetry and the potential to distinguish errors depending on the gamma tolerances. Thus, the approach/prototype provides a fast and easy quality assurance procedure for treatment delivery verification.

Planning benchmark study for SBRT of early stage NSCLC : Results of the DEGRO Working Group Stereotactic Radiotherapy.

PURPOSE: The aim was to evaluate stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) treatment planning variability for early stage nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with respect to the published guidelines of the Stereotactic Radiotherapy Working Group of the German Society for Radiation Oncology (DEGRO). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Planning computed tomography (CT) scan and the structure sets (planning target volume, PTV; organs at risk, OARs) of 3 patients with early stage NSCLC were sent to 22 radiotherapy departments with SBRT experience: each department was asked to prepare a treatment plan according to the DEGRO guidelines. The prescription dose was 3 fractions of 15 Gy to the 65% isodose. RESULTS: In all, 87 plans were generated: 36 used intensity-modulated arc therapy (IMAT), 21 used three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy (3DCRT), 6 used static field intensity-modulated radiation therapy (SF-IMRT), 9 used helical radiotherapy and 15 used robotic radiosurgery. PTV dose coverage and simultaneously kept OARs doses were within the clinical limits published in the DEGRO guidelines. However, mean PTV dose (mean 58.0 Gy, range 52.8-66.4 Gy) and dose conformity indices (mean 0.75, range 0.60-1.00) varied between institutions and techniques (p ≤ 0.02). OARs doses varied substantially between institutions, but appeared to be technique independent (p = 0.21). CONCLUSION: All studied treatment techniques are well suited for SBRT of early stage NSCLC according to the DEGRO guidelines. Homogenization of SBRT practice in Germany is possible through the guidelines; however, detailed treatment plan characteristics varied between techniques and institutions and further homogenization is warranted in future studies and recommendations. Optimized treatment planning should always follow the ALARA (as low as reasonably achievable) principle.