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Use of Intensity Modulated Proton Therapy (IMPT) for Reducing the Dose to Cochlea in Craniospinal Irradiation (CSI) of Pediatric Patients

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J Dormer

J Dormer*, A Kassaee , H Lin , X Ding , R Lustig , University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA

Presentations

SU-E-T-340 Sunday 3:00PM - 6:00PM Room: Exhibit Hall

Purpose:
To evaluate use of intensity modulated proton therapy (IMPT) and number of beams for sparing cochlea in treatment of whole brain for pediatric medulloblastoma patients

Methods:
In our institution, craniospinal irradiation patients are treated in supine position on our proton gantries using pencil beam scanning with each beam uniformly covering the target volume (SFUD). Each treatment plan consists of two opposed lateral whole brain fields and one or two spinal fields. For sparing the cochlea for the whole brain treatment, we created three different plans using IMPT for five pediatric patients. The first plan consisted of two lateral fields, the second two lateral fields and a superior-inferior field, and the third two lateral fields and two superior oblique fields. Optimization was performed with heavy weights applied to the eye, lens and cochlea while maintaining a dose prescription of 36 Gy to the whole brain.

Results:
IMPT plans reduce the dose to the cochlea. Increasing the number of treatment fields was found to lower the average dose to the cochlea: 15.0, 14.5 and 12.5 Gy for the two-field, three-field, and four-field plans respectively. The D95 for the two-field plan was 98.2%, compared to 100.0% for both the three-field and four-field plan. Coverage in the mid-brain was noticeably better in the three- and four-field plans, with more dose conformality surrounding the cochlea.

Conclusion:
IMPT plans for CSI and the whole brain irradiations are capable of sparing cochlea and reduce the dose considerably without compromising treating brain tissues. The reduction in average dose increases with three and four field plans as compared to traditional two lateral beam plans.



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