[The effects of normal tissue objective parameters on lung stereotactic body radiotherapy dose distributions]

In treatment planning of small-sized lung tumors treated with stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) in Eclipse treatment planning system with the Normal tissue objective (NTO) tool sharp dose gradients beyond the target volume can be achived. NTO has 5 variable parameters, so it is difficult to know which settings are optimal. The purpose of this study was to characterize the effects of changing NTO parameters on lung SBRT dose distributions. Ten lung SBRT cases were replanned using different NTO parameters. Dose calculation was performed using AAA and AXB algorithms as well. Differences between AAA and AXB plans were statistically significant. Plans were evaluated based on plan quality metrics. According to this analysis the fall-off of 0.15 and the priority of 500 have satisfied our institutional criteria best. Using NTO during planning is recommended in clinical practice.