Target localization of 3D versus 4D cone beam computed tomography in lipiodol-guided stereotactic radiotherapy of hepatocellular carcinomas

Aim of this study was to comparatively evaluate the accuracy of respiration-correlated (4D) and uncorrelated (3D) cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) in localizing lipiodolized hepatocellular carcinomas during stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT).

4D-CBCT scans of eighteen HCCs were acquired during free-breathing SBRT following trans-arterial chemo-embolization (TACE) with lipiodol. Approximately 1320 x-ray projections per 4D-CBCT were collected and phase-sorted into ten bins. A 4D registration workflow was followed to register the reconstructed time-weighted average CBCT with the planning mid-ventilation (MidV) CT by an initial bone registration of the vertebrae and then tissue registration of the lipiodol. For comparison, projections of each 4D-CBCT were combined to synthesize 3D-CBCT without phase-sorting. Using the lipiodolized tumor, uncertainties of the treatment setup estimated from the absolute and relative lipiodol position to bone were analyzed separately for 4D- and 3D-CBCT.

Qualitatively, 3D-CBCT showed better lipiodol contrast than 4D-CBCT primarily because of a tenfold increase of projections used for reconstruction. Motion artifact was observed to subside in 4D-CBCT compared to 3D-CBCT. Group mean, systematic and random errors estimated from 4D- and 3D-CBCT agreed to within 1 mm in the cranio-caudal (CC) and 0.5 mm in the anterior-posterior (AP) and left-right (LR) directions. Systematic and random errors are largest in the CC direction, amounting to 4.7 mm and 3.7 mm from 3D-CBCT and 5.6 mm and 3.8 mm from 4D-CBCT, respectively. Safety margin calculated from 3D-CBCT and 4D-CBCT differed by 2.1, 0.1 and 0.0 mm in the CC, AP, and LR directions.

3D-CBCT is an adequate alternative to 4D-CBCT when lipoid is used for localizing HCC during free-breathing SBRT. Similar margins are anticipated with 3D- and 4D-CBCT.