title: A brachytherapy plan evaluation tool for interstitial applications.
abstract: Radiobiological metrics such as tumor control probability (TCP) and normal tissue complication probability (NTCP) help in assessing the quality of brachytherapy plans. Application of such metrics in clinics as well as research is still inadequate. This study presents the implementation of two indigenously designed plan evaluation modules: Brachy_TCP and Brachy_NTCP. Evaluation tools were constructed to compute TCP and NTCP from dose volume histograms (DVHs) of any interstitial brachytherapy treatment plan. The computation module was employed to estimate probabilities of tumor control and normal tissue complications in ten cervical cancer patients based on biologically effective equivalent uniform dose (BEEUD). The tumor control and normal tissue morbidity were assessed with clinical followup and were scored. The acute toxicity was graded using common terminology criteria for adverse events (CTCAE) version 4.0. Outcome score was found to be correlated with the TCP/NTCP estimates. Thus, the predictive ability of the estimates was quantified with the clinical outcomes. Biologically effective equivalent uniform dose-based formalism was found to be effective in predicting the complexities and disease control.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, HCG Bangalore Institute of Oncology, RRMR Extension (KH Road), Bangalore 560027, India.
authors.forename: Surega
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-1057-3841
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Anbumani
authors.affiliation: Photonics, Nuclear and Medical Physics Division, VIT University, Vellore 632014, India.
authors.forename: N Arunai
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Nambiraj
authors.affiliation: Photonics, Nuclear and Medical Physics Division, VIT University, Vellore 632014, India.
authors.forename: Sridhar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dayalan
authors.affiliation: Photonics, Nuclear and Medical Physics Division, VIT University, Vellore 632014, India.
authors.forename: Kalaivany
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ganesh
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, HCG Bangalore Institute of Oncology, RRMR Extension (KH Road), Bangalore 560027, India.
authors.forename: Pichandi
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Anchineyan
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, HCG Bangalore Institute of Oncology, RRMR Extension (KH Road), Bangalore 560027, India.
authors.forename: Ramesh S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Bilimagga