Practice Patterns of Pediatric Total Body Irradiation Techniques: A Children's Oncology Group Survey.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to examine current practice patterns in pediatric total body irradiation (TBI) techniques among COG member institutions. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Between November 2019 and February 2020, a questionnaire containing 52 questions related to the technical aspects of TBI was sent to medical physicists at 152 COG institutions. The questions were designed to obtain technical information on commonly used TBI treatment techniques. Another set of 9 questions related to the clinical management of patients undergoing TBI was sent to 152 COG member radiation oncologists at the same institutions. RESULTS: Twelve institutions were excluded because TBI was not performed in their institutions. A total of 88 physicists from 88 institutions (63% response rate) and 96 radiation oncologists from 96 institutions (69% response rate) responded. The anterior-posterior/posterior-anterior (AP/PA) technique was the most common technique reported (49 institutions [56%]); 44 institutions (50%) used the lateral technique, and 14 (16%) used volumetric modulated arc therapy or tomotherapy. Midplane dose rates of 6 to 15 cGy/min were most commonly used. The most common specification for lung dose was the midlung dose for both AP/PA techniques (71%) and lateral techniques (63%). Almost all physician responders agreed with the need to refine current TBI techniques, and 79% supported the investigation of new TBI techniques to further lower the lung dose. CONCLUSIONS: There was no consistency in the practice patterns, methods for dose measurement, and reporting of TBI doses among COG institutions. The lack of standardization precludes meaningful correlation between TBI doses and clinical outcomes including disease control and normal tissue toxicity. The COG radiation oncology discipline is currently undertaking several steps to standardize the practice and dose reporting of pediatric TBI using detailed questionnaires and phantom-based credentialing for all COG centers.

Outcomes of intraoperative radiotherapy for early-stage breast cancer: Experience from a multidisciplinary breast oncology program.

BACKGROUND: Intraoperative radiotherapy (IORT) was implemented at our institution for early stage breast cancer patients including those with geographic or medical co-morbidity limitations to whole breast radiation therapy (WBRT). METHODS: Retrospective review of patients (n = 127) who underwent IORT from 2009 to 2016 for breast cancer. Demographics, pathology, toxicity, and recurrences were ascertained. RESULTS: The median age was 67 years (interquartile range: 62-73). At median follow-up (49.6 months), 5 patients (4%) had ipsilateral breast tumor recurrence with median time to recurrence of 36.8 months. Acute and late grade ≥3 skin toxicities were observed in 3.1% and 4.7% of patients, respectively. A subset (n = 7) who received prior ipsilateral WBRT was found to have no subsequent local recurrence, one case of acute grade 3 skin toxicity, and no late toxicity. CONCLUSIONS: IORT is a safe and effective alternative to whole breast radiotherapy, and serves as a suitable alternative to completion mastectomy in locally recurrent breast cancer.

Dose linearity and uniformity of a linear accelerator designed for implementation of multileaf collimation system-based intensity modulated radiation therapy.

The dose linearity and uniformity of a linear accelerator designed for multileaf collimation system-(MLC) based IMRT was studied as a part of commissioning and also in response to recently published data. The linear accelerator is equipped with a PRIMEVIEW, a graphical interface and a SIMTEC IM-MAXX, which is an enhanced autofield sequencer. The SIMTEC IM-MAXX sequencer permits the radiation beam to be " ON" continuously while delivering intensity modulated radiation therapy subfields at a defined gantry angle. The dose delivery is inhibited when the electron beam in the linear accelerator is forced out of phase with the microwave power while the MLC configures the field shape of a subfield. This beam switching mechanism reduces the overhead time and hence shortens the patient treatment time. The dose linearity, reproducibility, and uniformity were assessed for this type of dose delivery mechanism. The subfields with monitor units ranged from 1 MU to 100 MU were delivered using 6 MV and 23 MV photon beams. The doses were computed and converted to dose per monitor unit. The dose linearity was found to vary within 2% for both 6 MV and 23 MV photon beam using high dose rate setting (300 MU/min) except below 2 MU. The dose uniformity was assessed by delivering 4 subfields to a Kodak X-OMAT TL film using identical low monitor units. The optical density was converted to dose and found to show small variation within 3%. Our results indicate that this linear accelerator with SIMTEC IM-MAXX sequencer has better dose linearity, reproducibility, and uniformity than had been reported.

Clinical implementation of intensity-modulated radiation therapy.

The clinical implementation of intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) is a complex process because of the introduction of new treatment planning algorithms and beam delivery systems compared to conventional 3-dimensional conformal radiation therapy (3D-CRT) and the lack of established national performance protocols. IMRT uses an inverse-planning algorithm to create nonuniform fields that are only deliverable through a newly designed beam-modulating delivery system. The intent of this paper is to describe our experience and to elucidate the new clinical procedures that must be executed to have a successful IMRT program. Patients who undergo IMRT at our institution are immobilized and simulated before proceeding to computed tomography scan for patient data acquisition. Treatment planning involves the use of different prescription dose formats and different planning techniques compared to 3D-CRT. The desired dose goals for the target and sensitive structures must be specified before initiating the planning process, which is computer intensive. After the plan is completed, the delivery instructions are transferred to the delivery system via either a floppy disk for MIMiC-based IMRT or through the network for MLC-based IMRT. Target localizations are carried out using orthogonal radiographs. Ultrasound imaging system (BAT) is used to localize the prostate. Dose validation is performed using films, ion chambers or dose-calculation-based techniques.