Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 15, 2025
05:18
Author Spotlight: Improving Radiation Therapy Access with Radiation Planning Assistant
Published on: October 6, 2023
1.7K
Online adaptive radiotherapy compared to plan selection for rectal cancer: quantifying the benefit
R de Jong1, K F Crama2, J Visser2
1Department of Radiation Oncology, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, Meibergdreef 9, 1105AZ, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. m.a.j.dejong@amsterdamumc.nl.
Radiation Oncology (London, England)
|July 10, 2020
Summary
Online adaptive radiation therapy (ART) significantly reduces radiation dose to organs at risk for rectal cancer patients. This advanced technique maintains target coverage while improving safety compared to traditional plan selection strategies.
Area of Science:
- Radiation Oncology
- Medical Physics
Background:
- Rectal cancer treatment involves radiation therapy, posing risks to surrounding organs at risk (OARs).
- Comparing online adaptive radiation therapy (ART) with conventional plan selection (PS) is crucial for optimizing OAR dose sparing.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the effectiveness of online ART in reducing OAR dose for rectal cancer patients.
- To compare OAR dosimetry between online ART and a clinically implemented plan selection strategy.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective analysis of 20 rectal cancer patients treated with PS.
- Generation of new dual arc VMAT plans using auto-planning for both online ART and PS strategies.
- Daily delineation of organs at risk (bowel bag, bladder, mesorectum) on Conebeam CT scans to calculate dose-volume histograms (DVHs) and assess target coverage (CTV D99%) and normal tissue complication probability (NTCP).
Main Results:
- Online ART maintained target coverage compared to PS.
- Significant reduction in the volume of normal tissue receiving 95% of the prescribed dose with online ART (median 237 cm³ vs. 642 cm³ for PS, p < 0.001).
- Online ART demonstrated significant dose reduction to OARs across all tested dose levels for both short-course (SCRT) and long-course (LCRT) radiotherapy (p < 0.001).
Conclusions:
- Online ART offers significant OAR dose reduction in rectal cancer treatment.
- The strategy spares organs at risk without compromising target volume coverage.
- Online ART represents an advancement in rectal cancer radiotherapy, enhancing treatment safety and efficacy.
