The preliminary study of target uncertainty during fractionated radiotherapy for esophageal cancer / 中华放射肿瘤学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the changes of target during fractionated radiotherapy for e-sophageal cancer, and to assess their impact on the implementation of radiotherapy. Methods Fourteen pa-tients with unresectable esophageal cancer were enrolled to receive full course conformal radiotherapy. CT scans were performed after every ten fractions. New targets (GTV) were delineated on repeated CT scans. Then the pretreatment radiotherapy plans were copied to the new targets to investigate the conformity between the new GTV and the plans. Results The majority of the GTVs decreased with the increasing fractions dur-ing radiotherapy. However, GTVs of 35.7% (5/14) patients increased by 2.0%-37.7% at the tenth frac-tion. The PTVs covered by 95% isodose curve at the time of pretreatment,tenth fraction,twentieth fraction and thirtieth fraction were 97.81%±1.53%, 91.95%±5.25%, 94.27%±4.23% and 94.03%±6.45%, respectively. Moreover, at tenth, twentieth and thirtieth fraction, there were 6,5, and 4 patients whose PTVs covered by 95% isodose curve were below 95%, respectively. Conclusions There are signifi-cant target changes during fractionated radiotherapy for esophageal cancer, which may result in uncertainties of radiotherapy implementation.