Abdominal compression as motion management for stereotactic radiotherapy of ventricular tachycardia

Stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) has emerged as a promising treatment for patients with ventricular tachycardia (VT) who do not respond to standard treatments. However, the management of respiratory motion during treatment remains a challenge. This study aimed to investigate the effect of abdominal compression (AC) on respiratory induced motion in the heart.

A patient cohort of 18 lung cancer patients was utilized, where two four-dimensional computed tomography (4DCT) scans were performed for each patient, one with and one without AC. The patient setup consisted of an AC plate together with a stereotactic body frame. The left coronary artery, the left anterior descending artery, the lateral wall of the left ventricle, the heart apex, the carina, and the right and left diaphragm were delineated in max expiration and max inspiration phases in both 4DCT scans. The center of mass shift from expiration to inspiration phase was determined to assess the AC's impact on respiratory motion.

A significant reduction in motion in the superior-inferior direction was found for all heart structures when AC was used. The median respiratory motion of the heart structures decreased by approximately 1-3 mm with AC in the superior-inferior direction, and approximately 60% of the patients had a motion reduction ≥3 mm in the left ventricle wall.

These findings suggest that AC has the potential to improve the motion management of SBRT for VT patients, by reducing the respiratory induced motion in the heart.