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SU‐E‐T‐500: Dose Escalation Strategy for Lung Cancer Patients Using a Biologically‐ Guided Target Definition
Author(s) -
Shushari,
Khan F,
Choi N,
Sharp G
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
medical physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.473
H-Index - 180
eISSN - 2473-4209
pISSN - 0094-2405
DOI - 10.1118/1.4888833
Subject(s) - medicine , lung , lung cancer , pneumonitis , nuclear medicine , radiation therapy , lung volumes , radiation treatment planning , treatment of lung cancer , radiology , oncology
Purpose: Dose escalation strategy for lung cancer patients can lead to late symptoms such as pneumonitis and cardiac injury. We propose a strategy to increase radiation dose for improving local tumor control while simultaneously striving to minimize the injury of organs at risk (OAR). Our strategy is based on defining a small, biologically‐guided target volume for receiving additional radiation dose. Methods: 106 patients with lung cancer treated with radiotherapy were selected for patients diagnosed with stage II and III disease. Previous research has shown that 50% of the maximum SUV threshold in FDG‐PET imaging is appropriate for delineation of the most aggressive part of a tumor. After PET‐ and CT‐derived targets were contoured, an IMRT treatment plan was designed to deliver 60 Gy to the GTV as delineated on a 4D CT (Plan 1). A second plan was designed with additional dose of 18 Gy to the PET‐derived volume (Plan 2). A composite plan was generated by the addition of Plan 1 and Plan 2. Results: Plan 1 was compared to the composite plan and increases in OAR dose were assessed. For seven patients on average, lung V5 was increased by 1.4% and V20 by 4.2% for ipsilateral lung and by 13.5% and 7% for contralateral lung. For total lung, V5 and V20 were increased by 4.5% and 4.8% respectively. Mean lung dose was increased by 9.7% for the total lung. The maximum dose to the spinal cord increased by 16% on average. For the heart, V20 increased by 4.2% and V40 by 5.2%. Conclusion: It seems feasible that an additional 18 Gy of radiation dose can be delivered to FDG PET‐derived subvolume of the CT‐based GTV of the primary tumor without significant increase in total dose to the critical organs such as lungs, spinal cord and heart.