To evaluate the impact of shorter treatment times on intra-fractional motion of the prostate during external beam radiotherapy.
53 h of intra-fractional motion of the prostate were recorded in real-time by 4D ultrasound (4DUS) during 720 fractions in 28 patients, 14 of which whom treated with step-and-shoot intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) and 14 of whom were treated with volumetric arc therapy (VMAT).
The average VMAT fraction was recorded for 2 min 43 s and was substantially shorter than the average step-and-shoot IMRT fraction at 6 min 13 s. Average radial displacement of the prostate per fraction was substantially and significantly reduced from 1.31 ± 1.28 mm (n = 357 step-and-shoot IMRT fractions) to 0.96 ± 1.04 mm (n = 363 VMAT fractions), p = 0.00004. Radial, vertical, and longitudinal root-mean-square (r. m. s.) error per fraction was reduced from 1.55 to 1.12 mm (-28%, p < 0.0001), from 1.16 to 0.77 mm (-34%, p < 0.0001), and from 0.79 to 0.56 mm (-29%, p = 0.0002), respectively. Lateral intra-fractional motion was generally small and did not differ significantly. The prostate remained during 95% of fraction time within 4.55 mm of the isocenter in case of step-and-shoot IMRT and within 2.45 mm in case of VMAT. The variance of displacements increased linearly with time, and the rate was the same for both step-and-shoot IMRT and VMAT patients.
The position of the prostate changed less during shorter fractions, limiting fraction-average and end-of-fraction variance. This substantially and significantly reduced the impact of intra-fractional motion during shorter VMAT fractions as compared to longer step-and-shoot IMRT fractions.
Strahlentherapie und Onkologie : Organ der Deutschen Rontgengesellschaft ... [et al]. 2018 Mar 09 [Epub ahead of print]
Hendrik Ballhausen, Minglun Li, Ute Ganswindt, Claus Belka
Department of Radiation Oncology, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Marchioninistraße 15, 81377, Munich, Germany. ., Department of Radiation Oncology, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Marchioninistraße 15, 81377, Munich, Germany.