Results of a Prospective Dose Escalation Study of Linear Accelerator-Based Virtual Brachytherapy (BOOSTER) for Prostate Cancer; Virtual HDR Brachytherapy for Prostate Cancer.

PURPOSE: To demonstrate feasibility and toxicity of linear accelerator-based stereotactic radiation therapy boost (SBRT) for prostate cancer, mimicking a high-dose-rate brachytherapy boost. METHODS AND MATERIALS: A phase 1 sequential dose escalation study of SBRT compared 20 Gy, 22 Gy, and 24 Gy to the prostate and 25 Gy, 27.5 Gy, and 30 Gy to the gross tumor volume in 2 fractions, combined with 46 Gy in 23 fractions of external beam radiation. Feasibility of dose escalation (volume receiving 125% and 150% of the dose) while meeting organ-at-risk dose constraints, grade 2 acute and late gastrointestinal and genitourinary toxicity, and freedom from biochemical failure were secondary endpoints. RESULTS: Thirty-six men with intermediate- and high-risk prostate cancer were enrolled with a median follow-up of 24 months. Sixty-four percent of patients had high-risk features. Nine men were enrolled to dose level 1, 6 to level 2, and 6 to level 3. Another 15 patients were treated at dose level 3 on the continuation study. Dose level 3 achieved superior 125% (23.75 Gy) and 150% (28.5 Gy) dose compared to dose levels 1 and 2, with minimal differences in organ-at-risk doses. Kaplan-Meier estimate of freedom from biochemical failure at 3 years was 93.3%. There were no late grade 2 or 3 gastrointestinal events. The late grade 2 genitourinary toxicity at 2 years was 19.3%. Prostate-specific membrane antigen positron emission tomography was performed at 2 years with no local recurrences. CONCLUSIONS: We have shown that a linear accelerator-based SBRT boost for prostate cancer is feasible and can achieve doses comparable to high-dose-rate boost up to the 150% isodose volumes. Rectal, bladder, and urethral doses remained low, and long-term toxicity was the same as or better than previous reports from high-dose-rate or low-dose-rate boost protocols.

High dose rate brachytherapy source measurement intercomparison.

This work presents a comparison of air kerma rate (AKR) measurements performed by multiple radiotherapy centres for a single HDR 192Ir source. Two separate groups (consisting of 15 centres) performed AKR measurements at one of two host centres in Australia. Each group travelled to one of the host centres and measured the AKR of a single 192Ir source using their own equipment and local protocols. Results were compared to the 192Ir source calibration certificate provided by the manufacturer by means of a ratio of measured to certified AKR. The comparisons showed remarkably consistent results with the maximum deviation in measurement from the decay-corrected source certificate value being 1.1%. The maximum percentage difference between any two measurements was less than 2%. The comparisons demonstrated the consistency of well-chambers used for 192Ir AKR measurements in Australia, despite the lack of a local calibration service, and served as a valuable focal point for the exchange of ideas and dosimetry methods.

Practical time considerations for optically stimulated luminescent dosimetry (OSLD) in total body irradiation.

Total body irradiation (TBI) treatments are used to treat the whole body in preparation for hematopoietic stem cell (or bone marrow) transplantation. Our standard clinical regimen is a 12 Gy in 6 fraction, bi-daily technique using 6 MV X-rays at an extended Source-to-Surface distance (SSD) of 300 cm. Utilizing these characteristics, the beam dose rate is reduced below 7 cGy/min as is standard for TBI treatment. Dose received by the patient is monitored using optically stimulated luminescent dosimetry (OSLD). This work presents some practical calibration corrections based on time-dependant factors for OSLD calibration related to TBI procedure. Results have shown that a negligible difference is seen in OSL sensitivity for 6 MV X-rays irradiated in standard SSD (100 cm) and high dose rate (600 cGy/min) conditions compared to extended SSD (300 cm) and low TBI dose rate (6 cGy/min) conditions. Results have also shown that whilst short term signal fading occurs in the OSL after irradiation at a high dose rate (37% reduction in signal in the first 15 min), thereafter, negligible differences are seen in the OSL signal between 600 and 7 cGy/min irradiations. Thus a direct comparison can be made between calibration OSLs and clinical TBI OSLs between 15 min and 2 h. Finally a table is presented to provide corrections between calibration OSL readout and clinical TBI dose readout for a period up to 7 days. Combining these three results allows users to pre-irradiate their calibration OSLs at standard dose rate and SSD, up to 1 week prior to clinical treatment, and still provide accurate in-vivo dosimetry. This can help with time saving and work efficiency in the clinic.

Robustness of IPSA optimized high-dose-rate prostate brachytherapy treatment plans to catheter displacements.

PURPOSE: Inverse planning simulated annealing (IPSA) optimized brachytherapy treatment plans are characterized with large isolated dwell times at the first or last dwell position of each catheter. The potential of catheter shifts relative to the target and organs at risk in these plans may lead to a more significant change in delivered dose to the volumes of interest relative to plans with more uniform dwell times. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This study aims to determine if the Nucletron Oncentra dwell time deviation constraint (DTDC) parameter can be optimized to improve the robustness of high-dose-rate (HDR) prostate brachytherapy plans to catheter displacements. A set of 10 clinically acceptable prostate plans were re-optimized with a DTDC parameter of 0 and 0.4. For each plan, catheter displacements of 3, 7, and 14 mm were retrospectively applied and the change in dose volume histogram (DVH) indices and conformity indices analyzed. RESULTS: The robustness of clinically acceptable prostate plans to catheter displacements in the caudal direction was found to be dependent on the DTDC parameter. A DTDC value of 0 improves the robustness of planning target volume (PTV) coverage to catheter displacements, whereas a DTDC value of 0.4 improves the robustness of the plans to changes in hotspots. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that if used in conjunction with a pre-treatment catheter displacement correction protocol and a tolerance of 3 mm, a DTDC value of 0.4 may produce clinically superior plans. However, the effect of the DTDC parameter in plan robustness was not observed to be as strong as initially suspected.

Build-up material requirements in clinical dosimetry during total body irradiation treatments.

Total body irradiation (TBI) treatments are mainly used in a preparative regimen for hematopoietic stem cell (or bone marrow) transplantation. Our standard clinical regimen is a 12 Gy/6 fraction bi-daily technique using 6MV X-rays at a large extended source to surface distance (SSD). This work investigates and quantifies the dose build-up characteristics and thus the requirements for bolus used for in vivo dosimetry for TBI applications. Percentage dose build-up characteristics of photon beams have been investigated at large extended SSDs using ionization chambers and Gafchromic film. Open field measurements at different field sizes and with differing scatter conditions such as the introduction of standard Perspex scattering plates at different distances to the measurement point were made in an effort to determine the required bolus/build-up material required for accurate determination of applied dose. Percentage surface dose values measured for open fields at 300 cm SSD were found to range from 20% up to 65.5% for fields 5 cm × 5 cm to 40 cm × 40 cm, respectively. With the introduction of 1 cm Perspex scattering plates used in TBI treatments, the surface dose values increased up to 83-90% (93-97% at 1 mm depth), depending on the position of the Perspex scattering plate compared to the measurement point. Our work showed that at least 5 mm water equivalent bolus/scatter material should be placed over the EBT3 film for accurate dose assessment for TBI treatments. Results also show that a small but measurable decrease in measured dose occurred with 5 mm water equivalent thick bolus material of areas '3 cm(2). As such, we recommend that 3 cm × 3 cm × 5 mm bolus build-up is the smallest size that should be placed over EBT3 Gafchromic film when used for accurate in vivo dosimetry for TBI applications.

High-dose-rate brachytherapy boost for prostate cancer: Outcomes and genitourinary toxicity.

AIMS: To report disease outcomes and late urinary toxicity profile. To assess the impact of changing technique and evolving quality assurance on genitourinary toxicity rates. METHODS AND MATERIALS: One hundred eighty patients were treated with external beam radiation therapy and high-dose-rate brachytherapy (HDRB) for localized intermediate- and high-risk prostate cancer, between December 2002 and February 2012. The HDRB technique evolved over the period of this study, from 19.5 Gy/3 (n = 68), to 17 Gy/2 (n = 40), 18 Gy/2 (n = 39), and most recently 19 Gy/2 (n = 33). In the two fraction cohort, 68 patients underwent additional correction for catheter displacement before each fraction. RESULTS: With a median followup of 5.2 years, 5-year freedom from failure was 93.7% for intermediate, and 76.0% for high risk patients. The 3- and 6-year cumulative stricture incidence for all patients was 7.8% and 15.3%, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference in stricture rate for the four dose levels used nor between the three fractions and the two fraction technique overall. The 19 Gy/2 fractionation group had the lowest 3-year stricture rate (3.0%). The addition of correction for intrafraction catheter displacement did not result in a statistically significant difference in stricture rates, although the severity of strictures has been reduced. CONCLUSIONS: Our biochemical control is consistent with other similar series. We found no increase in late urinary toxicity with a two fraction, two implant HDRB technique compared with three fractions. The HDRB dose did not correlate with stricture rates in our series. Correction of intra-fraction catheter displacement did not lead to a statistically significant reduction in stricture rates, although may have mitigated the effects of dose escalation.

The use of dual vacuum stabilization device to reduce kidney motion for stereotactic radiotherapy planning.

Abdominal stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy is aided by motion management strategies to ensure accurate dose delivery as targets such as the kidney are easily influenced by breathing motion. Commercial devices such as compression plates and dual vacuum technology have been demonstrated to reduce the motion of lung and liver tumors. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a dual vacuum system in reducing kidney motion as well to investigate any relationship between abdominal wall motions with kidney motion. Ten healthy volunteers were set up with and without vacuum compression (Elekta BodyFIX(TM)) to simulate free and dampened breathing. Ultrasound imaging was used to visualize kidney motion at the same time an abdominal surface marker was monitored using infrared imaging (Varian, Real Time Position Management). The resulting kidney and abdominal motion tracks were imported into motion analysis (Physmo(TM)) and custom built software (Matlab) to calculate amplitude of motion independent of shifting baselines. Thirty-four kidney datasets were available for analysis, with six datasets unable to be retrieved. With vacuum compression six out of nine participants showed a mean reduction of kidney motion ranging between 1.6 and 8 mm (p < 0.050). One participant showed an increase in motion of 8.2 mm (p < 0.001) with vacuum compression. Two participants showed no significant change (<1 mm) in kidney motion. No relationship was observed for abdominal wall motion and motion changes in the left kidney (r = 0.345, p = 0.402) or right kidney (r = 0.527, p = 0.145). Vacuum compression reduced kidney motion in the majority of participants; however larger breathing motion can also result from its use. No pattern emerged regarding which patients may benefit from vacuum immobilization as abdominal wall motion was not found to be an adequate surrogate for kidney motion.

Constrained-beam inverse planning for intensity-modulated radiation therapy of prostate cancer patients with bilateral hip prostheses.

Hip prostheses present a technical challenge in the planning of curative external beam radiation treatment for patients with prostate cancer. Bilateral prostheses compel planners to compromise between target coverage and avoidance of beam entry through the prostheses. Inverse planning systems given objectives to avoid dose to prostheses are overly restricted from allowing exit dose to them. We report a novel inverse planning technique for intensity-modulated radiation therapy of patients with prostate cancer and bilateral hip prostheses, by constraining beam characteristics rather than dose in the inverse planning process.

A study of surface dosimetry for breast cancer radiotherapy treatments using Gafchromic EBT2 film.

The present study quantified surface doses on several rectangular phantom setups and on curved surface phantoms for a 6 MV photon field using the Attix parallel-plate chamber and Gafchromic EBT2 film. For the rectangular phantom setups, the surface doses on a homogenous water equivalent phantom and a water equivalent phantom with 60 mm thick lung equivalent material were measured. The measurement on the homogenous phantom setup showed consistency in surface and near-surface doses between an open field and enhanced dynamic wedge (EDW) fields, whereas physical wedged fields showed small differences. Surface dose measurements made using the EBT2 film showed good agreement with results of the Attix chamber and results obtained in previous studies which used other dosimeters within the measurement uncertainty of 3.3%. The surface dose measurements on the phantom setup with lung equivalent material showed a small increase without bolus and up to 6.9% increase with bolus simulating the increase of chest wall thickness. Surface doses on the cylindrical CT phantom and customized Perspex chest phantom were measured using the EBT2 film with and without bolus. The results indicate the important role of the presence of bolus if the clinical target volume (CTV) is quite close to the surface. Measurements on the cylindrical phantom suggest that surface doses at the oblique positions of 60° and 90° are mainly caused by the lateral scatter from the material inside the phantom. In the case of a single tangential irradiation onto Perspex chest phantom, the distribution of the surface dose with and without bolus materials showed opposing inclination patterns, whereas the dose distribution for two opposed tangential fields gave symmetric dose distribution. This study also demonstrates the suitability of Gafchromic EBT2 film for surface dose measurements in megavoltage photon beams.

Prostate HDR brachytherapy catheter displacement between planning and treatment delivery.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: HDR brachytherapy is used as a conformal boost for treating prostate cancer. Given the large doses delivered, it is critical that the volume treated matches that planned. Our outpatient protocol comprises two 9 Gy fractions, two weeks apart. We prospectively assessed catheter displacement between CT planning and treatment delivery. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Three fiducial markers and the catheters were implanted under transrectal ultrasound guidance. Metal marker wires were inserted into 4 reference catheters before CT; marker positions relative to each other and to the marker wires were measured from the CT scout. Measurements were repeated immediately prior to treatment delivery using pelvic X-ray with marker wires in the same reference catheters. Measurements from CT scout and film were compared. For displacements of 5mm or more, indexer positions were adjusted prior to treatment delivery. RESULTS: Results are based on 48 implants, in 25 patients. Median time from planning CT to treatment delivery was 254 min (range 81-367 min). Median catheter displacement was 7.5mm (range -2.9-23.9 mm), 67% of implants had displacement of 5mm or greater. Displacements were predominantly caudal. CONCLUSIONS: Catheter displacement can occur in the 1-3h between the planning CT scan and treatment. It is recommended that departments performing HDR prostate brachytherapy verify catheter positions immediately prior to treatment delivery.