Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy for Oligoprogression in Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer: Early Toxicity Analysis of the TRAP Trial.

AIMS: To assess toxicity and patient quality of life after stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) to oligoprogressive disease (OPD) in patients with metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) on androgen receptor targeted agents (ARTA). MATERIAL AND METHODS: This phase II trial enrolled patients with metastatic CRPC with ≤ 2 oligoprogressive lesions in bone, lymph node, lung, or prostate. All patients were receiving systemic treatment with abiraterone or enzalutamide at the time of oligoprogression. All patients received SBRT to the OPD site(s) and continued the current ARTA. Patients received 30 Gy in 5 fractions (alternate days) to the OPD site. The primary endpoint of the trial is to assess if SBRT to OPD sites results in progression free survival of >6 months. The primary endpoint for this toxicity analysis is the rate of grade 3 or higher adverse events at any timepoint up to 6 months after SBRT. Secondary endpoints included comparing pre- and post-SBRT patient-related outcomes reported using visual analogue scale scores and EQ-5D health questionnaire. RESULTS: Forty enrolled patients had at least 6 months of follow-up at the time of analysis. Grade 3 or higher toxicity from any cause recorded using common terminology criteria for adverse events and radiation therapy oncology group was found in 8/40 (20%) of patients, but only 1/40 (2.5%) was deemed possibly related to SBRT. There was no significant difference in mean EQ5D visual analogue scale score from baseline to each timepoint after SBRT (p = 0.449). CONCLUSION: In this prospective phase II clinical trial for OPD whilst on ARTA in the CRPC setting, we report low grade ≥ 3 toxicity after SBRT. There is no discernible change in patient-reported quality of life due to SBRT treatment. The final results of progression-free survival and toxicity of SBRT treatment will be reported once further follow-up is complete.

MRI-guided adaptive radiotherapy for prostate cancer: When do we need to account for intra-fraction motion?

A shift of the daily plan can mitigate target position changes that occur between daily MR acquisition and treatment for MR-linac radiotherapy, but increases the session time. We demonstrated that our workflow strategy and decision-making process, to determine whether a subsequent shift is necessary, is appropriate.

Prostate Volume Changes during Extreme and Moderately Hypofractionated Magnetic Resonance Image-guided Radiotherapy.

AIMS: Prostate morphological changes during external beam radiotherapy are poorly understood. Excellent soft-tissue visualisation offered by magnetic resonance image-guided radiotherapy (MRIgRT) provides an opportunity to better understand such changes. The aim of this study was to quantify prostate volume and dimension changes occurring during extreme and moderately hypofractionated schedules. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty prostate cancer patients treated on the Unity 1.5 Tesla magnetic resonance linear accelerator (MRL) were retrospectively reviewed. The cohort comprised patients treated with 36.25 Gy in five fractions (n = 20) and 60 Gy in 20 fractions (n = 20). The volume of the delineated prostates on reference planning computed tomography (fused with MRI) and daily T2-weighted 2-min session images acquired on Unity were charted. Forty planning computed tomography and 500 MRL prostate volumes were evaluated. The mean absolute and relative change in prostate volume during radiotherapy was compared using a paired t-test (P value <0.01 considered significant to control for multiple comparisons). The maximum dimension of the delineated prostate was measured in three isocentric planes. RESULTS: Significant prostate volume changes, relative to MRL imaging fraction 1 (MRL#1), were seen at all time points for the five-fraction group. The peak mean relative volume increase was 21% (P < 0.001), occurring at MRL#3 and MRL#4 after 14.5 and 21.75 Gy, respectively. Prostate expansion was greatest in the superior-inferior direction; the peak mean maximal extension was 5.9 mm. The maximal extension in the left-right and anterior-posterior directions measured 1.1 and 2.2 mm, respectively. For the 20-fraction group, prostate volume increased relative to MRL#1, for all treatment time points. The mean relative volume increase was 11% (P < 0.001) at MRL#5 after 12 Gy, it then fluctuated between 8 and 13%. From MRL#5 to MRL#20, the volume increase was significant (P < 0.01) for 12 of 16 time points calculated. The peak mean maximal extension in the superior-inferior direction was 3.1 mm. The maximal extension in the left-right and anterior-posterior directions measured 1.7 and 3.7 mm, respectively. CONCLUSION: Significant prostate volume and dimension changes occur during extreme and moderately hypofractionated radiotherapy. The extent of change was greater during extreme hypofractionation. MRIgRT offers the opportunity to reveal, quantify and correct for this deformation.

Fiducial marker based intra-fraction motion assessment on cine-MR for MR-linac treatment of prostate cancer.

We have developed a method to determine intrafraction motion of the prostate through automatic fiducial marker (FM) tracking on 3D cine-magnetic resonance (MR) images with high spatial and temporal resolution. Twenty-nine patients undergoing prostate stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT), with four implanted cylindrical gold FMs, had cine-MR imaging sessions after each of five weekly fractions. Each cine-MR examination consisted of 55 sequentially obtained 3D datasets ('dynamics'), acquired over a 11 s period, covering a total of 10 min. FM locations in the first dynamic were manually identified by a clinician, FM centers in subsequent dynamics were automatically determined. Center of mass (COM) translations and rotations were determined by calculating the rigid transformations between the FM template of the first and subsequent dynamics. The algorithm was applied to 7315 dynamics over 133 scans of 29 patients and the obtained results were validated by comparing the COM locations recorded by the clinician at the halfway-dynamic (after 5 min) and end dynamic (after 10 min). The mean COM translations at 10 min were X: 0.0 [Formula: see text] 0.8 mm, Y: 1.0 [Formula: see text] 1.9 mm and Z: 0.9 [Formula: see text] 2.0 mm. The mean rotation results at 10 min were X: 0.1 [Formula: see text] 3.9°, Y: 0.0 [Formula: see text] 1.3° and Z: 0.1 [Formula: see text] 1.2°. The tracking success rate was 97.7% with a mean 3D COM error of 1.1 mm. We have developed a robust, fast and accurate FM tracking algorithm for cine-MR data, which allows for continuous monitoring of prostate motion during MR-guided radiotherapy (MRgRT). These results will be used to validate automatic prostate tracking based on soft-tissue contrast.

Significance of positive Stenotrophomonas maltophilia culture in acute respiratory tract infection.

Stenotrophomonas maltophilia is a common coloniser of the respiratory tract of patients with chronic lung disease, and, in the absence of pneumonia or bacteraemia, is often ignored by physicians at the Royal Perth Hospital (Perth, Australia). Experience at the Royal Perth Hospital was reviewed to determine whether ignoring S. maltophilia in this setting has any apparent effect on clinical outcome. All patients who presented with an acute respiratory illness and yielded a positive culture for S. maltophilia between 1995 and 2002 were retrospectively reviewed. All subjects had to yield a positive respiratory isolate of S. maltophilia and undergo chest radiography within 24 h of the isolate being obtained. Ninety-two episodes were identified in 89 individuals; 64 showed no evidence of consolidation. Of the study group, 51 (80.0%) received no anti-S. maltophilia antibiotic therapy and 21 (32.8%) had a nosocomially acquired isolate. The overall mortality rate was 20.3%. There was no impact of anti-S. maltophilia therapy on outcome. The only independent predictor of mortality was serum albumin level. As there was no measurable impact of antibiotic therapy, in the absence of consolidation, a positive respiratory tract isolate of Stenotrophomonas maltophilia probably represents colonisation of a severely impaired host rather than invasive disease.