Program Information

Dosimetric Comparison of Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy (VMAT), Step and Shoot and Sliding Window IMRT for Prostate Cancer

E Schnell*, T De La Fuente Herman, O Algan, L Syzek, T Herman, J Young, K Hildebrand, S Ahmad, Oklahoma Univ. Health Science Ctr., Oklahoma City, OK

SU-E-T-577 Sunday 3:00:00 PM - 6:00:00 PM Room: Exhibit Hall

Purpose: This study aims to evaluate treatment plans generated by Step-and-Shoot (SS), Sliding Window (SW) and Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy (VMAT) in order to assess the differences in dose volume histograms of planning target volume (PTV) and organs at risk (OAR), conformity indices, radiobiological evaluations, and plan quality for prostate cancer cases.

Methods: Six prostate cancer patients treated in our center were selected for this retrospective study. Treatment plans were generated with Eclipse version 8.9 using 10 MV photon beams. For VMAT, Varian Rapid Arc with 1 or 2 arcs, and for SS and SW IMRT, 7-9 fields were used. Each plan had three PTVs with prescription doses of 81, 59.4, and 45 Gy to prostate, to prostate and lymph nodes, and to pelvis, respectively. Doses to PTV and OAR and the conformal indices (COIN) were compared among three techniques. The equivalent uniform dose (EUD), tumor control probability (TCP) and normal tissue complication probability (NTCP) was also calculated and compared.

Results: The mean doses to the PTV prostate on average were 83 Gy and the percent differences of mean dose among all techniques were below 0.28. For bladder and rectum, the percent differences of mean dose among all techniques were below 2.2. The COIN did not favour any particular delivery method over the other. The TCP was higher with SS and SW for four patients and higher with VMAT for two patients. The NTCP for the rectum was the lowest with VMAT in all patients except one.

Conclusions: Preliminary data shows similar target coverage in general. We will extend our study to include 15 patients to compare different approaches with statistics. We will attempt to define characteristics predictive of the superior delivery technique.

Contact Email