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Feasibility of using MRI alone for 3D radiation treatment planning in brain tumors
R Prabhakar1, P K Julka, T Ganesh
1Department of Radiotherapy, Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India. rampraba@rediffmail.com
Objective:
The aim of this study was to establish whether radiation treatment planning using MRI alone could replace CT-based planning for brain tumors while retaining the dosimetric accuracy. This would help to provide a single imaging modality for both target delineation as well as treatment planning, thus saving time and resources.
Methods:
Twenty-five patients with brain tumors were scanned on a spiral CT scanner and 1.5 T MRI scanner. Three treatment plans were generated for all patients. The first plan was generated using the CT scan images with inhomogeneity correction (CT + IC); the second plan used the CT scan without inhomogeneity correction (CT-IC) and the third plan was generated using the MRI scan (MRI alone).
Results:
The maximum distortion in the MRI phantom study was less than 1 mm. There were no statistically significant differences in any of the target coverage parameters analysed in this study. Similarly, the maximum antero-posterior and lateral dimensions for the CT-based and MRI-based planning did not show any statistical difference.
Conclusion:
MRI-based treatment planning for brain lesions is feasible and gives equivalent dosimetric results compared to CT-based treatment planning.
