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Updated: Jun 22, 2026
Irradiator Commissioning and Dosimetry for Assessment of LQ α and β Parameters, Radiation Dosing Schema, and in vivo Dose Deposition
Published on: March 11, 2021
Correlation between pre- and postimplant dosimetry for iodine-125 seed implants for localized prostate cancer
Bashar Al-Qaisieh1, Thelma Witteveen, Brendan Carey
1Department of Medical Physics and Engineering, St James's Institute of Oncology, Leeds LS9 7TF, United Kingdom.
Purpose:
In order to evaluate implant quality for permanent prostate brachytherapy in patients with localized prostate cancer, American Brachytherapy Society and ESTRO guidelines recommend that postimplant dosimetry should be performed. To understand more about the relationship between pre- and postimplant dosimetry, a comparison was made of patients who received iodine-125 ((125)I) brachytherapy between March 1995 and the end of 2004, using a preplan technique.
Methods And Materials:
CT postimplant dosimetry was available for 707 patients. Detailed dose volume analysis was performed using both preimplant ultrasound and postimplant CT data sets for a subgroup of 445 patients. The following parameters were compared: prostate volume covered by 100% of the prescription dose (Vp100), Vp150, and Vp200 and dose to 90% (D90) of the prostate. In addition, volume implanted (Vi) parameters were used to compare pre- and postimplant dosimetry. Vi parameters describe dose levels inside the patient, based on number of seeds, seed activity, and their spatial distribution relative to each other, without reference to the actual prostate volume or position.
Results:
The mean +/- standard deviation values of preimplant (34.7 +/- 8.9 cm(3)) and postimplant (36.7 +/- 9.4 cm(3)) prostate volumes were similar. The mean (+/-standard deviation) planned D90 was 183.4 (+/-12.1) Gy while the D90 that was achieved was 145.5 (+/-20.4) Gy. Over the study period, there was a steady increase of the average D90. Postimplant CT D90 and Vp100 values correlated significantly (R = 0.84; p < 0.001). The Vi and Vp parameters all showed a strong correlation.
Conclusions:
In this study, we showed that there is a strong correlation between transrectal ultrasound-based preimplant and CT-based postimplant dosimetry. The excellent correlation between prostate D90 and V100 values demonstrates they are both equally valid quality indices. Vi parameters are an additional measure that can be used to assess the quality of the implant.
