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Inverse-planned modulated-arc total-body irradiation
Neil Kirby1, Mareike Held, Olivier Morin
1Department of Radiation Oncology, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Medical Physics
|May 8, 2012
Summary
Modulated-arc total-body irradiation (MATBI) offers improved dose uniformity and patient comfort compared to conventional methods. This technique is practical for standard treatment vaults, enhancing TBI delivery.
Area of Science:
- Radiation Oncology
- Medical Physics
Background:
- Total-body irradiation (TBI) is a crucial radiotherapy technique.
- Conventional TBI planning can be uncomfortable and result in dose inhomogeneity.
- Advancements in planning techniques are needed to improve TBI delivery.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a simple, robust, and improved method for inverse-planned TBI.
- To enhance patient comfort and dose homogeneity compared to conventional TBI.
- To ensure TBI delivery is feasible in standard treatment vaults.
Main Methods:
- Modulated-arc TBI (MATBI) uses an arc of static open-field beams with shielding for organs at risk.
- Full-body CT images are used with inverse planning to optimize dose uniformity.
- Dose uniformity is evaluated using the volume within 10% of the prescription dose (V(±10)).
Main Results:
- MATBI achieved significantly better V(±10) values (75.8%-90.2%) compared to conventional TBI (60.3%-68.5%).
- Pretreatment phantom measurements showed an average error of 1.2%.
- In-vivo measurements during treatment had most points within 3% of predictions.
Conclusions:
- MATBI offers superior dose uniformity and patient comfort over conventional forward-planned TBI.
- The MATBI technique is implementable on most linear accelerators in standard vaults.
- MATBI eliminates the need for a translating couch, simplifying the treatment setup.
