Detection of intrafractional tumour position error in radiotherapy utilizing cone beam computed tomography.
OBJECTIVE
To study the intrafraction tumour position error utilizing cone beam CT (CBCT) in patients receiving radiotherapy.


METHODS
Fifty-four patients were treated with Elekta Synergy S system, including 19 head and neck, 25 thoracic and 10 abdominal-pelvic tumours. All patients received CBCT after initial setup and some of them received CBCT after correction and after treatment. CBCT were registered to planning CT and errors of isocenter position on the left-to-right (LR), superior-inferior (SI) and anterior-posterior (AP) directions were analyzed.


RESULTS
After treatment the systematic (Sigma) and random uncertainty (sigma) increased, the increments of tumour Sigma were 0.1-0.3, 0.2-0.5 and 0.2-0.6 mm, respectively, while the increments of sigma were 0.1-0.3, 0.2-0.4 and 0.1-0.4 mm, respectively, for the head and neck, thoracic and abdominal-pelvic tumours. Based on 380 paired pre- and post-treatment CBCT, the intrafraction errors (mean+/-SD) in the LR, SI and AP directions were -0.1+/-0.9, -0.3+/-1.0 and -0.2+/-0.7 mm, respectively, for head and neck tumours, -0.1+/-1.2, -0.1+/-1.9 and 0.1+/-1.3 mm, respectively, for thoracic tumours, -0.1+/-1.1, 0.2+/-1.4 and -0.1+/-1.5 mm, respectively, for abdominal-pelvic tumours. Isotropic planning margins of 3.4, 6.1 and 5.4 mm were generated with linear addition of internal margin (IM) to CTV for the head and neck, thoracic and abdominal-pelvic tumours, respectively, while margins were only 2.4, 4.4 and 3.9 mm, respectively, if IM was added in quadrature.


CONCLUSIONS
Utilizing CBCT measurements before and after treatment to detect intrafraction tumour position errors was clinically feasible. The detected intrafraction errors could be applied to improve the accuracy of radiation delivery.
Xu
Feng
F
Department of Abdominal Tumour, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China. fengxuster@gmail.com
Wang
Jin
J
Bai
Sen
S
Li
Yan
Y
Shen
Yali
Y
Zhong
Renming
R
Jiang
Xiaoqin
X
Xu
Qingfeng
Q
D000008:Abdominal Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000532:radiotherapy; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D054893:Cone-Beam Computed Tomography; D005260:Female; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000532:radiotherapy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010386:Pelvic Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000532:radiotherapy; D011880:Radiotherapy Planning, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D013899:Thoracic Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000532:radiotherapy