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Prostate SBRT Delivery with Flattening-Filter-Free Mode: Benefit and Accuracy


T Li

T Li*, L Yuan , Y Sheng , Q Wu , Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC

Presentations

TH-A-9A-10 Thursday 7:30AM - 9:30AM Room: 9A

Purpose: Flattening-filter-free (FFF) beam mode offered on TrueBeamâ„¢ linac enables delivering IMRT at 2400 MU/min dose rate. This study investigates the benefit and delivery accuracy of using high dose rate in the context of prostate SBRT.

Methods: 8 prostate SBRT patients were retrospectively studied. In 5 cases treated with 600-MU/min dose rate, continuous prostate motion data acquired during radiation-beam-on was used to analyze motion range. In addition, the initial 1/3 of prostate motion trajectories during each radiation-beam-on was separated to simulate motion range if 2400-MU/min were used. To analyze delivery accuracy in FFF mode, MLC trajectory log files from an additional 3 cases treated at 2400-MU/min were acquired. These log files record MLC expected and actual positions every 20ms, and therefore can be used to reveal delivery accuracy.

Results:
(1) Benefit. On average treatment at 600-MU/min takes 30s per beam; whereas 2400-MU/min requires only 11s. When shortening delivery time to ~1/3, the prostate motion range was significantly smaller (p<0.001). Largest motion reduction occurred in Sup-Inf direction, from [-3.3mm, 2.1mm] to [-1.7mm, 1.7mm], followed by reduction from [-2.1mm, 2.4mm] to [-1.0mm, 2.4mm] in Ant-Pos direction. No change observed in LR direction [-0.8mm, 0.6mm]. The combined motion amplitude (vector norm) confirms that average motion and ranges are significantly smaller when beam-on was limited to the 1st 1/3 of actual delivery time.
(2) Accuracy. Trajectory log file analysis showed excellent delivery accuracy with at 2400 MU/min. Most leaf deviations during beam-on were within 0.07mm (99-percentile). Maximum leaf-opening deviations during each beam-on were all under 0.1mm for all leaves. Dose-rate was maintained at 2400-MU/min during beam-on without dipping.


Conclusion: Delivery prostate SBRT with 2400 MU/min is both beneficial and accurate. High dose rates significantly reduced both treatment time and intra-beam prostate motion range. Excellent delivery accuracy was confirmed with very small leaf motion deviation.


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