Program Information
Modeling Relative Biological Effectiveness of Protons for Radiation Induced Brain Necrosis
D Mirkovic*, C Peeler, D Grosshans, U Titt, R Taleei, R Mohan, UT M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Presentations
SU-E-T-549 (Sunday, July 12, 2015) 3:00 PM - 6:00 PM Room: Exhibit Hall
Purpose: To develop a model of the relative biological effectiveness (RBE) of protons as a function of dose and linear energy transfer (LET) for induction of brain necrosis using clinical data.
Methods: In this study, treatment planning information was exported from a clinical treatment planning system (TPS) and used to construct a detailed Monte Carlo model of the patient and the beam delivery system. The physical proton dose and LET were computed in each voxel of the patient volume using Monte Carlo particle transport. A follow-up magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study registered to the treatment planning CT was used to determine the region of the necrosis in the brain volume. Both, the whole brain and the necrosis volumes were segmented from the computed tomography (CT) dataset using the contours drawn by a physician and the corresponding voxels were binned with respect to dose and LET. The brain necrosis probability was computed as a function of dose and LET by dividing the total volume of all necrosis voxels with a given dose and LET with the corresponding total brain volume resulting in a set of NTCP-like curves (probability as a function of dose parameterized by LET).
Results: The resulting model shows dependence on both dose and LET indicating the weakness of the constant RBE model for describing the brain toxicity. To the best of our knowledge the constant RBE model is currently used in all clinical applications which may result in increased rate of brain toxicities in patients treated with protons.
Conclusion: Further studies are needed to develop more accurate brain toxicity models for patients treated with protons and other heavy ions.
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