Abstract:
Objective To investigate the effect of different optimization methods in the same beam angles on the dose distribution of the target area and organ at risk (OAR) in intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) for central lung cancer.
Methods Six patients with central lung cancer and received IMRT in Panyu Central Hospital of Guangzhou from November 2017 to October 2019 were retrospectively analyzed, including 5 males and 1 female; the median age was 64 (53–73) years old. Six patients were treated with two plans, namely, F-plan and B-plan. Both plans adopted the same beam angles, and the given beam angle was optimized in accordance with the distance between the edge of the target area to the surface of the skin and the principle of the minimum penetration of field into lung. The F-plan was that part of the beam angles was designed to fix the jaw, and the B-plan was that part of the beam angles was designed to add a block in the incident path of the view. The target area coverage, OAR distribution, and monitor unit (MU) with two treatment plans were receptivity evaluated. Paired t-test was used to compare the differences.
Results The two treatment plans could satisfy the clinical requirements, the dose distributions of the planning clinical target volume and the planning gross target volume (PGTV) were basically the same, and no significant difference was found between the parameters such as the conformal index and uniformity index of PGTV, machine MU under the two plans (t=−1.383−1.863, all P>0.05). The mean lung dose (MLD) ((1572.13±148.08) cGy)/V5 ((62.58±5.91)%)/V25 ((24.33±1.83)%)/V30 ((20.14±2.43)%) and V40 ((13.38±2.78)%) of the double lung (where Vx refers to the percentage of the volume exposed to x-Gy dose to the total volume) and the mean dose (Dmean) ((1246.63±485.12) cGy)/V5 ((58.46±24.31)%) and V40 ((6.38±2.67)%) of normal tissue (NT) in the B-plan were generally higher than in the F-plan (MLD ((1546.45±152.98) cGy)/V5 ((60.66±5.34)%)/V25 ((23.79±2.20)%)/V30 ((19.59±2.71)%) and V40 ((12.70±2.79)%) of the double lung and the Dmean ((1209.37±466.66) cGy)/V5 ((54.87±22.60)%) and V40 ((5.89±2.63)%) of NT). Their difference was statistically significant (t=−6.370 to −2.601, all P<0.05). For the heart and spinal cord, no significant differences were found between the two plans (t=−1.120−0.377, all P>0.05). However, B-plan cardiac V30 ((17.21±10.42)%) and V40 ((11.70±8.04)%) were higher than F-plan cardiac V30 ((14.67±5.82)%) and V40 ((9.42±4.19)%). In addition, spinal cord maximum dose (Dmax) ((4112.12±304.66) cGy) was slightly lower than F-plan spinal cord Dmax ((4128.73±254.72) cGy).
Conclusions Both treatment plans can obtain satisfactory target dosimetric distribution, and each plan has its own advantages and disadvantages in the protection of OARs. In clinical application, they can be used selectively or in combination according to individual differences and target distribution.