Effects of respiration-induced density variations on dose distributions in radiotherapy of lung cancer.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the effect of respiration-induced density variations on the estimated dose delivered to moving structures and, consequently, to evaluate the necessity of using full four-dimensional (4D) treatment plan optimization.


METHODS
In 10 patients with large tumor motion (median, 1.9 cm; range, 1.1-3.6 cm), the clinical treatment plan, designed using the mid-ventilation ([MidV]; i.e., the 4D-CT frame closest to the time-averaged mean position) CT scan, was recalculated on all 4D-CT frames. The cumulative dose was determined by transforming the doses in all breathing phases to the MidV geometry using deformable registration and then averaging the results. To determine the effect of density variations, this cumulative dose was compared with the accumulated dose after similarly deforming the planned (3D) MidV-dose in each respiratory phase using the same transformation (i.e., "blurring the dose").


RESULTS
The accumulated tumor doses, including and excluding density variations, were almost identical. Relative differences in the minimum gross tumor volume (GTV) dose were less than 2% for all patients. The relative differences were even smaller in the mean lung dose and the V20 (<0.5% and 1%, respectively).


CONCLUSIONS
The effect of respiration-induced density variations on the dose accumulated over the respiratory cycle was very small, even in the presence of considerable respiratory motion. A full 4D-dose calculation for treatment planning that takes into account such density variations is therefore not required. Planning using the MidV-CT derived from 4D-CT with an appropriate margin for geometric uncertainties is an accurate and safe method to account for respiration-induced anatomy variations.
Mexner
Vanessa
V
Department of Radiation Oncology, The Netherlands Cancer Institute-Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Wolthaus
Jochem W H
JW
van Herk
Marcel
M
Damen
Eugène M F
EM
Sonke
Jan-Jakob
JJ
D000465:Algorithms; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000532:radiotherapy* / Q000601:surgery; D009068:Movement; D016634:Radiosurgery; D011879:Radiotherapy Dosage; D011880:Radiotherapy Planning, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D012119:Respiration; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013679:Technology, Radiologic / Q000379:methods; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods