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Practical Method to Implement Arc Therapy Using Scanned Particle Beams


J Eley

J Eley*, M Mehta, J Molitoris, U Langner, K Langen, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD

Presentations

SU-E-T-626 (Sunday, July 12, 2015) 3:00 PM - 6:00 PM Room: Exhibit Hall


Purpose: The purpose of this study was to propose a method to implement arc therapy that is compatible with existing particle therapy systems having gantries and pencil-beam scanning capacities. Furthermore, we sought to demonstrate expected benefits of this method for selected clival chordoma patients.

Methods: We propose that a desired particle arc treatment plan can be discretized into a finite number of fixed beams and that only one (or a subset) of these beams be delivered in any single treatment fraction; the target should receive uniform dose during each fraction. For 3 clival-chordoma patients, robust-optimized, scanned proton beams were simulated to deliver 78 Gy (RBE) to clinical target volumes (CTVs), using either a single-field plan with a posterior-anterior (PA) beam or a discrete-arc plan with 16 beams that were equally spaced throughout a 360-degree axial arc. Dose-volume metrics were compared with emphasis on the brainstem, since risk of radiation necrosis there can often restrict application of tumoricidal doses for chordomas.

Results: The mean volume of brainstem receiving a dose of 60 Gy (RBE) or higher (V60Gy) was 10.3±0.9 cm³ for the single-field plan and 4.7±1.8 cm³ for the discrete-arc plan, a reduction of 55% in favor of arcs. The mean dose to the brainstem was also reduced using arcs, by 18%, while the maximum dose was nearly identical for both methods. For the whole brain, V60Gy was reduced by 23%, in favor of arcs. Mean dose to the CTVs were nearly identical for both strategies, within 0.3%.

Conclusion: Discrete arc treatments can be implemented using existing scanned particle-beam facilities. Aside from the physical advantages, the biological uncertainties of particle therapy, particularly high in the distal edge, can be reduced by arc therapy via rotational smearing, which may be of benefit for tumors near the brainstem.


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