Segmental and dynamic intensity-modulated radiotherapy delivery techniques for micro-multileaf collimator

A leaf sequencing algorithm has been implemented to deliver segmental and dynamic multileaf collimated intensity-modulated radiotherapy (SMLC-IMRT and DMLC-IMRT, respectively) using a linear accelerator equipped with a micro-multileaf collimator (mMLC). The implementation extends a previously published algorithm for the SMLC-IMRT to include the dynamic MLC-IMRT method and several dosimetric considerations. The algorithm has been extended to account for the transmitted radiation and minimize the leakage between opposing and neighboring leaves. The underdosage problem associated with the tongue-and-groove design of the MLC is significantly reduced by synchronizing the MLC leaf movements. The workings of the leaf sequencing parameters have been investigated and the results of the planar dosimetric investigations show that the sequencing parameters affect the measured dose distributions as intended. Investigations of clinical cases suggest that SMLC and DMLC delivery methods produce comparable results with leaf sequences obtained by root-mean-square (RMS) errors specification of 1.5% and lower, approximately corresponding to 20 or more segments. For SMLC-IMRT, there is little to be gained by using an RMS error specification smaller than 2%, approximately corresponding to 15 segments; however, more segments directly translate to longer treatment time and more strain on the MLC. The implemented leaf synchronization method does not increase the required monitor units while it reduces the measured TG underdoses from a maximum of 12% to a maximum of 3% observed with single field measurements of representative clinical cases studied.     

肺癌固定剂量率旋转调强和容积旋转调强的剂量学分析

目的:通过对肺癌固定剂量率旋转调强放疗（IMAT）计划和容积旋转调强放疗（VMAT）计划的剂量学分析,为临床应用中肺癌VMAT放疗剂量率方式的选取提供参考。 方法:取11例肺癌患者,用RayStation计划系统设计IMAT和VMAT计划,比较其剂量学、机器跳数（MU）和治疗时间的差异。 结果:（1）11例肺癌患者的双弧IMAT和VMAT计划均能满足临床要求,IMAT和VMAT计划的靶区最小剂量D98%、最大剂量D2%、平均剂量（Dmean）、靶区均匀性指数、靶区适形度指数相近,无明显差异。靶区覆盖率VMAT计划好于IMAT计划。（2）危及器官受量:全肺的V5、V10、V20、Dmean和心脏的V20,VMAT计划比IMAT计划低。全肺的V30、心脏的V30、脊髓的最大剂量D1%,两种计划之间无明显差异。（3）正常组织在低剂量部分V5、V10、V15和Dmean,VMAT计划低于IMAT计划;V20、V25两种计划无明显差异;接近处方剂量部分V30、V35、V40,VMAT计划高于IMAT计划。（4）出束时间和MU:VMAT计划相比于IMAT计划,治疗出束时间大大减少,VMAT计划出束时间仅为IMAT计划出束时间的62%。两者的MU无明显差异。（5）两种计划的剂量验证通过率均大于95%,达到98.72%以上,能满足治疗要求。VMAT计划的剂量验证通过率略低于IMAT计划,相差约0.44%。 结论:VMAT技术相较于IMAT技术,其计划调制能力更强,可得到更优的靶区剂量分布,提高治疗效率,可以更好地保护危及器官,尤其是减少肺的低剂量照射体积。因此,在肺癌的旋转调强放射治疗中,VMAT技术相较于IMAT技术存在较大的优势。     

Investigation of secondary neutron dose for 18 MV dynamic MLC IMRT delivery

Secondary neutron doses from the delivery of 18 MV conventional and intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) treatment plans were compared. IMRT was delivered using dynamic multileaf collimation (MLC). Additional measurements were made with static MLC using a primary collimated field size of 10 x 10 cm2 and MLC field sizes of 0 x 0, 5 x 5, and 10 x 10 cm2. Neutron spectra were measured and effective doses calculated. The IMRT treatment resulted in a higher neutron fluence and higher dose equivalent. These increases were approximately the ratio of the monitor units. The static MLC measurements were compared to Monte Carlo calculations. The actual component dimensions and materials for the Varian Clinac 2100/2300C including the MLC were modeled with MCNPX to compute the neutron fluence due to neutron production in and around the treatment head. There is excellent agreement between the calculated and measured neutron fluence for the collimated field size of 10 x 10 cm2 with the 0 x 0 cm2 MLC field. Most of the neutrons at the detector location for this geometry are directly from the accelerator head with a small contribution from room scatter. Future studies are needed to investigate the effect of different beam energies used in IMRT incorporating the effects of scattered photon dose as well as secondary neutron dose.     

Improvement of tomographic intensity modulated radiotherapy dose distributions using periodic shifting of arc abutment regions

Based on the study of treatment arc positioning versus target length, a method that allowed periodic shift of arc abutment regions through the course of intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) was developed. In this method, two treatment plans were developed for the same tumor. The first plan contained the original target (Planning Target Volume as defined by radiation oncologist) and the second one contained a modified target. The modification of the original target consisted of simply increasing its length, adding a small extension to it, or creating a distant pseudo target. These modifications cause arc abutment regions in the second plan to be shifted relative to their positions in the first plan. Different methods of target modification were investigated because in some cases (for instance, when a critical structure might overlap with the target extension) a simple extension of the target would cause an unacceptable irradiation of the sensitive structures. The dose prescribed to the modified portion of the target varied from 10% to 100% of the original target dose. It was found that a clinically significant shift (> or =5 mm) in abutment region locations occurred when the dose prescribed to the extended portion of the target was > or =95% of the original target dose. On the other hand, the pseudo target required only approximately 10% to 20% of the original target dose to produce the same shift in arc positions. Results of the film dosimetry showed that when a single plan was used for the treatment delivery, the dose nonuniformity was 17% and 25% of the prescribed dose with 0.5 and 1 mm errors in couch indexing, respectively. The dose nonuniformity was reduced by at least half when two plans were used for IMRT delivery.     

In patient dose reconstruction using a cine acquisition for dynamic arc radiation therapy

An amorphous silicon (a-Si) electronic portal imaging device (EPID) was implemented to perform transit in vivo dosimetry for dynamic conformal arc therapy (DCAT). A set of images was acquired for each arc irradiation using the EPID cine acquisition mode, that supplies a frame acquisition rate of one image every 1.66 s, with a monitor unit rate equal to 100 UM/min. In these conditions good signal stability, ±1% (2SD) evaluated during 3 months, signal reproducibility within ±0.8% (2SD) and linearity with dose and dose rate within ±1% (2SD) were obtained. The transit signal, S _t, due to the transmitted radiotherapy beam below a solid phantom, measured by the EPID cine acquisition mode was used to determine, (1) a set of correlation functions, F(w, L), defined as the ratio between S _t and the dose at half thickness, D _m, measured in solid water phantoms of different thicknesses, w and with square fields of side L, (2) a set of factors, f(d, L), that take into account the different x-ray scatter contribution from the phantom to the S _t signal as a function of the variation, d, of the air gap between the phantom and the EPID. The reconstruction of the isocenter dose, D _iso, for DCAT was obtained convolving the transit signal values, obtained at different gantry angles, with the respective reconstruction factors determined by a house-made software. The method was applied to a first patient and the results show that the reconstructed D _iso values can be obtained with an accuracy within ±5%. In conclusion, it was assessed that an a-Si EPID with the cine acquisition mode is suitable to perform transit in vivo dosimetry for the DCAT therapy.     

Investigation of variance reduction techniques for Monte Carlo photon dose calculation using XVMC

Several variance reduction techniques, such as photon splitting, electron history repetition, Russian roulette and the use of quasi-random numbers are investigated and shown to significantly improve the efficiency of the recently developed XVMC Monte Carlo code for photon beams in radiation therapy. It is demonstrated that it is possible to further improve the efficiency by optimizing transpon parameters such as electron energy cut-off, maximum electron energy step size, photon energy cut-off and a cut-off for kerma approximation, without loss of calculation accuracy. These methods increase the efficiency by a factor of up to 10 compared with the initial XVMC ray-tracing technique or a factor of 50 to 80 compared with EGS4/PRESTA. Therefore, a common treatment plan (6 MV photons, 10 x 10 cm2 field size, 5 mm voxel resolution, 1% statistical uncertainty) can be calculated within 7 min using a single CPU 500 MHz personal computer. If the requirement on the statistical uncertainty is relaxed to 2%, the calculation time will be less than 2 min. In addition, a technique is presented which allows for the quantitative comparison of Monte Carlo calculated dose distributions and the separation of systematic and statistical errors. Employing this technique it is shown that XVMC calculations agree with EGSnrc on a sub-per cent level for simulations in the energy and material range of interest for radiation therapy.     

Electron dose rate and photon contamination in electron arc therapy

The electron dose rate at the depth of dose maximum dmax and the photon contamination are discussed as a function of several parameters of the rotational electron beam. A pseudoarc technique with an angular increment of 10 degrees and a constant number of monitor units per each stationary electron field was used in our experiments. The electron dose rate is defined as the electron dose at a given point in phantom divided by the number of monitor units given for any one stationary electron beam. For a given depth of isocenter di the electron dose rates at dmax are linearly dependent on the nominal field width w, while for a given w the dose rates are inversely proportional to di. The dose rates for rotational electron beams with different di are related through the inverse square law provided that the two beams have (di,w) combinations which give the same characteristic angle beta. The photon dose at the isocenter depends on the arc angle alpha, field width w, and isocenter depth di. For constant w and di the photon dose at isocenter is proportional to alpha, for constant alpha and w it is proportional to di, and for constant alpha and di it is inversely proportional to w. The w and di dependence implies that for the same alpha the photon dose at the isocenter is inversely proportional to the electron dose rate at dmax.     

A volumetric-modulated arc therapy using sub-conformal dynamic arc with a monotonic dynamic multileaf collimator modulation

We present a new dose delivery scheme utilizing sub-conformal dynamic arc (sub-CD-ARC) with a dynamic multileaf collimator (dMLC) modulation in a single rotation. In sub-conformal delivery, a MLC aperture conforms not to the whole target but to its portion, simultaneously completely avoiding organs at risk (OARs). In CD-ARC therapy, the dose deposition level depends on the target width and distance to the axis of rotation, and therefore the use of multiple arcs is necessary to achieve a uniform dose within the target in 3D. In our delivery scheme, the dose deposition variations symptomatic of non-modulating sub-CD-ARC are compensated for in 3D by a quasi-periodic monotonic dMLC modulation. For this reason, we call this scheme sub-conformal dynamic modulated arc (sub-CD-MARC) therapy. The advantage of using such a modulation is that MLC leaf motion has just a few control points, and that an inverse planning problem is reduced to a linear equation problem with a few unknown parameters, which have clear physical meaning. We show the general dosimetric properties of sub-CD-ARC and sub-CD-MARC for a specific geometry of the target and OARs (rotational symmetry with varying inner and outer radii along the axis of rotation). In addition, we present numerical results of sub-CD-MARC inverse planning optimization.     

Rotational IMRT delivery using a digital linear accelerator in very high dose rate 'burst mode'

Recently, there has been a resurgence of interest in arc-based IMRT, through the use of 'conventional' multileaf collimator (MLC) systems that can treat large tumor volumes in a single, or very few pass(es) of the gantry. Here we present a novel 'burst mode' modulated arc delivery approach, wherein 2000 monitor units per minute (MU min(-1)) high dose rate bursts of dose are facilitated by a flattening-filter-free treatment beam on a Siemens Artiste (Oncology Care Systems, Siemens Medical Solutions, Concord, CA, USA) digital linear accelerator in a non-clinical configuration. Burst mode delivery differs from continuous mode delivery, used by Elekta's VMAT (Elekta Ltd, Crawley, UK) and Varian's RapidArc (Varian Medical Systems, Palo Alto, CA, USA) implementations, in that dose is not delivered while MLC leaves are moving. Instead, dose is delivered in bursts over very short arc angles and only after an MLC segment shape has been completely formed and verified by the controller. The new system was confirmed to be capable of delivering a wide array of clinically relevant treatment plans, without machine fault or other delivery anomalies. Dosimetric accuracy of the modulated arc platform, as well as the Prowess (Prowess Inc., Concord, CA, USA) prototype treatment planning version utilized here, was quantified and confirmed, and delivery times were measured as significantly brief, even with large hypofractionated doses. The burst mode modulated arc approach evaluated here appears to represent a capable, accurate and efficient delivery approach.     

Intensity modulated radiotherapy dose delivery error from radiation field offset inaccuracy

In Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy (IMRT), irradiation is delivered in a number of small aperture subfields. The fluences shaped by these small apertures are highly sensitive to inaccuracies in multileaf collimator (MLC) calibration. The Radiation Field Offset (RFO) is the difference between a radiation and a light field at the Source to Axis Distance (SAD) for a MLC. An Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy (IMRT) system must incorporate a RFO by closing in all leaf openings. In IMRT, RFO inaccuracy will result in a dose error to the interior of a target volume. We analyze dosimetric consequences of incorporating a wrong RFO into the CORVUS, 1 cm x 1 cm, step and shoot, IMRT system. The following method was employed. First an IMRT plan is generated for a target volume in a phantom, which produces a set of dynamic MLC (DMLC) files with the correct RFO value. To simulate delivery with a wrong RFO value, we wrote a computer code that reads in the DMLC file with the correct RFO value and produces another DMLC with an incorrect RFO specified by a user. Finally the phantom was irradiated with the correct and the incorrect RFO valued DMLC files, and the doses were measured with an ionization chamber. The method was applied to 9 fields, 6 MV, IMRT plans. We measured Dose Error Sensitivity Factor (DESF) for each plan, which ranged from (0-8)% mm(-1). The DESF(x) is defined as a fractional dose error to a point (x) in a target volume per mm of the RFO error, i.e., DESF(x) is equivalent to ?deltaD(x)/D(x)deltaRFO?. Therefore, we concluded that for CORVUS, 6 MV, 1 cm x 1 cm, step and shoot IMRT, RFO must be determined within an accuracy of 0.5 mm if a fractional dose error to a target volume is to be less than 4%. We propose an analytic framework to understand the measured DESF's. From the analysis we conclude that a large DESF was associated with an DMLC file with small average leaf openings. For 1 cm x 1 cm, step and shoot IMRT, the largest possible DESF is predicted to be 20% mm(-1). In addition, we wrote computer code that can calculate a DESF of a DMLC file. The code was written in Mathematica 3.0. The code can be used to screen patient IMRT plans that are highly sensitive to a RFO error.     

Intra-fraction dose delivery timing during stereotactic radiotherapy can influence the radiobiological effect

The sequence of incremental dose delivery during a radiotherapy fraction can potentially influence the radiobiological effect. This would be most noticeable during the long fractions characteristic of hypo-fractionated stereotactic radiotherapy and radiosurgery. We demonstrate here the spatio-temporal variation of dose delivery by the CyberKnife to a lung tumor and propose strategies to reduce and/or correct for any resultant dose-time cytotoxic effects.     

Optimized source selection for intracavitary low dose rate brachytherapy

A procedure has been developed for automating optimal selection of sources from an available inventory for the low dose rate brachytherapy, as a replacement for the conventional trial-and-error approach. The method of optimized constrained ratios was applied for clinical source selection for intracavitary Cs-137 implants using Varian BRACHYVISION software as initial interface. However, this method can be easily extended to another system with isodose scaling and shaping capabilities. Our procedure provides optimal source selection results independent of the user experience and in a short amount of time. This method also generates statistics on frequently requested ideal source strengths aiding in ordering of clinically relevant sources.     

Dynamic wedge field techniques through computer-controlled collimator motion and dose delivery

Clinical treatment planning situations arise which require different wedge angles within segments of a single therapeutic x-ray field. Idealized wedge-shaped dose distributions, including combination of several wedge segments of different angle within a single field, are generated and delivered through computer control of asymmetric collimator motion and dose per field segment. A dual-pass technique is introduced to provide improved adherence to the prescribed isodose distribution. Dynamic wedge distributions are verified by film densitometry and ionization chamber measurement. These results suggest the potential importance of this technique as an added clinical radiotherapy tool.     

脉冲式低剂量率照射对食管癌细胞及肺组织的影响

目的:评估脉冲式低剂量率照射（RLDR）对食管癌细胞及小鼠正常肺组织的影响。方法:针对人食管癌细胞系EC109和SPF级KM小鼠,进行4种模式照射:常规（CR, 5×2 Gy）、大分割（HR, 2×5 Gy）、PLDR［5×（10×0.2） Gy,当日每分次间隔3 min］、对照组（CG, 0 Gy）。分别于照射前、10 Gy照射后第1、3、5、7天使用CCK-8法检测EC109细胞增殖水平,第4周使用ELISA法检测小鼠血清转化生长因子β1（TGF-β1）水平以及H&E染色观察其肺组织形态。结果:EC109照射后第3天起各实验组的相对吸光度、细胞活力显著低于CG（P<0.05）;照射后第5、7天的CR与PLDR的相对吸光度、细胞活力均显著高于HR组（P<0.05）;CR与PLDR之间均无明显差异（P>0.05）。照射结束后第4周CR、HR小鼠肺组织出现肺泡壁增厚、较多炎细胞浸润,PLDR组小鼠肺组织较正常;且CR与HR小鼠血清TGF-β1水平明显高于CG与PLDR（P<0.05）,PLDR与CG无统计学差异（P>0.05）。结论:与CR、HR相比,PLDR在有效抑制食管癌细胞增殖的同时可显著降低放射性肺损伤。     

Monte Carlo dosimetry of a new 192Ir pulsed dose rate brachytherapy source

A new microSelectron pulsed dose rate source has been designed, containing two active pellets instead of one inactive and one active pellet contained in the old design, to facilitate the incorporation of higher activity up to 74 GBq (2 Ci). In this work, Monte Carlo simulation is used to derive full dosimetric data following the AAPM TG-43 formalism, as well as the dose rate per unit air kerma strength data in Cartesian, "away and along" coordinates for both source designs. The calculated dose rate constant of the new PDR source design was found equal to lambda=(1.121 +/- 0.006) cGy h(-1) U(-1) compared to lambda = (1.124 +/- 0.006) cGy h(-1) U(-1) for the old design. Radial dose functions of the two sources calculated using the point source approximated geometry factors were found in close agreement (within 1%) except for radial distances under 2 mm. At polar angles close to the longitudinal source axis at the sources' distal end, the new design presents increased anisotropy (up to 10%) compared to the old one due to its longer active core. At polar angles close to the longitudinal source axis at the sources' drive wire end however, the old design presents increased anisotropy (up to 18%) due to attenuation of emitted photons through the inactive Ir pellet. These differences, also present in "away and along" dose rate results, necessitate the replacement of treatment planning input data for the new microSelectron pulsed dose rate source.     

Comparison of conformal radiation therapy techniques within the dynamic radiotherapy project 'Dynarad'

The objective of the dynamic radiotherapy project 'Dynarad' within the European Community has been to compare and grade treatment techniques that are currently applied or being developed at the participating institutions. Cervical cancer was selected as the tumour site on the grounds that the involved organs at risk, mainly the rectum and the bladder, are very close to the tumour and partly located inside the internal target volume. In this work, a solid phantom simulating the pelvic anatomy was used by institutions in Belgium, France, Greece, Holland, Italy, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The results were evaluated using both biological and physical criteria. The main purpose of this parallel evaluation is to test the value of biological and physical evaluations in comparing treatment techniques. It is demonstrated that the biological objective functions allow a much higher conformality and a more clinically relevant scoring of the outcome. Often external beam treatment techniques have to be combined with intracavitary therapy to give clinically acceptable results. However, recent developments can reduce or even eliminate this need by delivering more conformal dose distributions using intensity modulated external dose delivery. In these cases the reliability of the patient set-up procedure becomes critical for the effectiveness of the treatment.     

立体定向放射治疗计划不同剂量区间三维γ通过率分析

【摘要】目的:为探究立体定向放射治疗（SBRT）剂量通过率的特点及敏感性,分析SBRT验证计划γ通过率。方法:选取38例SBRT计划移植到PTW的OCTAVIUS模体,在Verisoft软件中将PTW 1600SRS采集的二维剂量重建为三维剂量,用Matlab分析Verisoft重建出的三维剂量（Dp）与放射治疗计划系统计算的三维剂量（Dt）间的γ通过率,并分析不同阈值及不同剂量区间内的γ通过率,检验γ通过率对不同剂量区间的剂量增加的敏感度。结果:阈值为10%时,3 mm标准下的γ通过率均大于90%;不同标准下的γ通过率的趋势较一致;3%/3 mm标准下,11%~20%区间内的γ通过率最高,所有γ标准下,51%以上剂量区间内（即照射区内）γ通过率均值低于90%,且波动性极大;γ通过率对51%以下剂量区间内（即照射区外）剂量增加敏感度较高。结论:阈值越小,γ通过率越高;低剂量区的γ通过率高于高剂量区,γ通过率对低剂量区剂量增加较敏感。