Adaptive brachytherapy for cervical cancer in combined 1.5 T MR/HDR suite: Impact of repeated imaging

At our department we have a dedicated 1.5 Tesla MRI/HDR brachytherapy suite, which provides the possibility of repeated MRI scanning before, during and after applicator insertion and before and/or after irradiation for patients with advanced cervical cancer. In this study we analysed the effect of this adaptive workflow. We investigated the number of interventions, their impact on organ doses (OAR) and the respective dose differences between total prescribed and total delivered doses.

Seventy patients with locally advanced cervical cancer FIGO2009 stages IB-IVA, treated from June 2016 till August 2020, were retrospectively analysed. The standard brachytherapy schedule consisted of two applicator insertions and delivery of three or four HDR fractions.OARs were recontoured on the repeated MRI scans. The D_2cm3 dose difference between total prescribed and total delivered dose for bladder, rectum, sigmoid and bowel were calculated.

In total 153 interventions were performed, 3 replacements of the applicator, 23 adaptations of needle positions, bladder filling was changed 74 times and repeated rectal degassing 53 times. The impact of the rectal interventions was on average -1.2 Gy EQD2₃. Dose differences between total delivered and total prescribed D_2cm3 for bladder, rectum, sigmoid and bowel were -0.6, 0.3, 2.2 and -0.6 Gy EQD2₃, respectively.

An MRI scanner integrated into the brachytherapy suite enables multiple interventions based on the scans before treatment planning and dose delivery. This allows for customized treatment according to the changing anatomy of the individual patient and a better estimation of the delivered dose.