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Sun L, Kirkby C, Smith W. Dosimetric effect of body contour changes for prostate and head and neck volumetric modulated arc therapy plans. J Appl Clin Med Phys 2019; 20:115-124. [PMID: 30927323 PMCID: PMC6448168 DOI: 10.1002/acm2.12571] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/22/2018] [Revised: 02/01/2019] [Accepted: 02/23/2019] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Body contour changes are commonly seen in prostate and head and neck (H&N) patients undergoing volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) treatments, which may cause a discrepancy between the planned dose and the delivered dose. Dosimetrists, radiation oncologists or medical physicists sometimes are required to visually assess the dosimetric impact of body contour changes and make a judgment call on whether further re‐assessment of the plan is needed. However, an intuitive judgment cannot always be made in a timely manner due to the complexity of VMAT plans as well as the complicated forms of body contour changes. This study evaluated the dosimetric effect of body contour changes for prostate and H&N patients to help with clinical decision‐making. By analyzing the one‐dimensional spatial dose profiles from the original body and the body with different body contour deformations, rules of thumb for dose percentage change and isodose line shift due to body contour changes were ascertained. Moreover, based on dose distribution comparison using three‐dimensional gamma analysis, the response of the clinical prostate and H&N VMAT plans to body contour changes was assessed. Within center specific dose deviation tolerances, prostate patients who had less than 2 cm single side body contour change or less than 1 cm uniform body contour change were unlikely to need plan re‐assessment; H&N VMAT plans with less than 1 cm uniform body contour change or less than 1 cm shoulder superior–inferior positional change were also unlikely to trigger further evaluation. Dose percentage change and isodose line shift were considered independently from the problem of volume changes in this study, but clinically, both aspects must be considered.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lingyue Sun
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, T2N 1N4, Canada.,Department of Medical Physics, Tom Baker Cancer Centre, Calgary, AB, T2N 4N2, Canada
| | - Charles Kirkby
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, T2N 1N4, Canada.,Department of Oncology, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, T2N 1N4, Canada.,Department of Medical Physics, Jack Ady Cancer Centre, Lethbridge, AB, T1J 1W5, Canada
| | - Wendy Smith
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, T2N 1N4, Canada.,Department of Medical Physics, Tom Baker Cancer Centre, Calgary, AB, T2N 4N2, Canada.,Department of Oncology, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, T2N 1N4, Canada
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