PURPOSE: To study the relationship between the accuracy of the dose calculation in brachytherapy and the estimations of the radiosensitivity parameter, α/β, for prostate cancer.
METHODS AND MATERIALS: In this study, Monte Carlo methods and more specifically the code ALGEBRA was used to produce accurate dose calculations in the case of prostate brachytherapy. Equivalent uniform biologically effective dose was calculated for these dose distributions and was used in an iso-effectiveness relationship with external beam radiation therapy.
RESULTS: By considering different levels of detail in the calculations, the estimation for the α/β parameter varied from 1.9 to 6.3 Gy, compared with a value of 3.0 Gy suggested by the American Association of Physicists in Medicine Task Group 137.
CONCLUSIONS: Large variations of the α/β show the sensitivity of this parameter to dose calculation modality. The use of accurate dose calculation engines is critical for better evaluating the biological outcomes of treatments.
Written by:
Afsharpour H, Walsh S, Collins Fekete CA, Vigneault E, Verhaegen F, Beaulieu L. Are you the author?
Centre de Recherche sur le Cancer, Université Laval and Département de Radio-Oncologie, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Québec, Québec, QC, Canada; Centre Intégré de Cancérologie de la Montérégie, Hôpital Charles-LeMoyne, Greenfield Park, QC, Canada; Department of Radiation Oncology Maastricht Radiation Oncology (MAASTRO), GROW, University Hospital Maastricht, Maastricht, The Netherlands; Gray Institute for Radiation Oncology and Biology, The University of Oxford, The United Kingdom; Medical Physics Unit, Department of Oncology, McGill University, Montréal, Québec, Canada.
Reference: Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2014 Feb 1;88(2):345-50.
doi: 10.1016/j.ijrobp.2013.11.001
PubMed Abstract
PMID: 24411607
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