title: Energy Modulated Photon Radiotherapy: A Monte Carlo Feasibility Study.
abstract: A novel treatment modality termed energy modulated photon radiotherapy (EMXRT) was investigated. The first step of EMXRT was to determine beam energy for each gantry angle/anatomy configuration from a pool of photon energy beams (2 to 10 MV) with a newly developed energy selector. An inverse planning system using gradient search algorithm was then employed to optimize photon beam intensity of various beam energies based on presimulated Monte Carlo pencil beam dose distributions in patient anatomy. Finally, 3D dose distributions in six patients of different tumor sites were simulated with Monte Carlo method and compared between EMXRT plans and clinical IMRT plans. Compared to current IMRT technique, the proposed EMXRT method could offer a better paradigm for the radiotherapy of lung cancers and pediatric brain tumors in terms of normal tissue sparing and integral dose. For prostate, head and neck, spine, and thyroid lesions, the EMXRT plans were generally comparable to the IMRT plans. Our feasibility study indicated that lower energy (<6 MV) photon beams could be considered in modern radiotherapy treatment planning to achieve a more personalized care for individual patient with dosimetric gains.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China; Department of Therapeutic Radiology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China.
authors.forename: Yuanming
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China; Department of Therapeutic Radiology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ming
authors.affiliation: Department of Therapeutic Radiology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-2619-8054
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Deng
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D017785:Photons / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011874:Radiometry; D011879:Radiotherapy Dosage; D011880:Radiotherapy Planning, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D050397:Radiotherapy, Intensity-Modulated / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods*