Adaptive Radiotherapy Flashcards
Overall benefits of ART
- Accounts for temporal changes in anatomy and changes in tumour biology/function
- Accounts for organ motion
- Accounts for variation in patient position
What is ART?
- Adaptive radiotherapy
- Adaptive radiotherapy is defined as changing
the radiation treatment plan delivered to a
patient during a course of radiotherapy to
account for:
u Temporal changes in anatomy (e.g. tumor
shrinkage, weight loss or internal motion)
u Changes in tumor biology/function (e.g. hypoxia)
Advantages of IGRT
- Can lead to reduced target margin
- May decrease dose to surrounding OAR
- Provides rich 3D information which can be used as the basis for adaptive planning intervention - modification of the initial plan
IGRT Role in ART
- Images taken just prior to treatment delivery
- Assess changes in patient position relative to treatment plan
- Adapting positioning to account for variation —> increased treatment precision
Clinical Examples of IGRT
- 4DCT capabilities (Elekta Symmetry)
- Patient Motion Detection (iGuide, SGRT)
- Detection of Correct Floor Rotation (Exactrac)
- Video-based systems (Varian RPM)
- Ultrasound (Clarity Autoscan)
- RF Tracking (Calypso)
- MRI
Limitations of IGRT
Image guidance in isolation can not correct for non-rigid changes
Timepoints of ART Application
Offline (between fractions)
* Most common form of AR
* Continue treating the patient while the plan is being re-planned and assessed
Online (immediately before a fraction)
* Plan is adapted prior to treatment - XRT phase is not continued until plan is assessed and complete
Real-time (during a fraction)
* Dose calculation during real time
* Some technology can locate the target and treat simultaneously
It can also be a combination of online and offline
Real-time workflow
Technology to locate the target during real-time
RF waves: Calypso, RayPilot
Dose calculation during real-time
Technology to hit the target in real-time
Limitations with Current Bladder XRT
Organ Motion
* Size, shape and position can significantly change both intra and interfractionally
* Leads to generous margin (2-3cm) patients experience side effects which potentially can be avoided
* Need to decrease prescriptive dose to account for this (dose escalation is often related to poor treatment outcomes)
Current Dosing for Bladder ART
- General prescribed dose: 50-66Gy (relatively low in comparison to other sites)
- Could be related to poor outcomes with bladder cancer
- Retrospective studies suggest significant improvement in outcome with dose escalation (may be possible with ART)
Bladder: Online ART Workflow
Step 1: Daily pre-treatment CBCT
Step 2: Plan of the Day (most popular method currently used clinically)
Bladder: Offline ART Workflow
- Adaptive PTV delineated based on information from the first 5# CBCT’s.
- Utilisation of patient specific margins
Limitations with Current Prostate XRT
- Size, shape and position is dependent on bordering organs (rectum, bladder)
- Can lead to under/overdosing of prostate, bladder, rectum → side effects
Prostate: Offline ART
- Delivered dose and variation of OARS is accounted for in the planning objective function.
- Dose distribution accomplished in the adaptive plan is used for the remaining treatment.
- Optimiser increases/reduces dose in sections of target volume, dependent of dose already delivered in treatment.
Prostate: Online ART
- kV intrafraction monitoring
- Real time localisation method
- Can be used to track gold seeds image is taken approx. every 30 degrees and couch can be shifted to account for intrafraction motion.
Prosate: Real-Time ART
- Together, KIM and MLC enable IGART using a standard LA without additional equipment.
- Current onboard CBCT imaging is suboptimal for online guidance of prostate
Limitations with Current Lung XRT
- Prognosis for NSCLC is poor (<50% 5 year survival)
- Dose escalation studies show promising results – increased loco-regional control and improved survival.
- Routine dose escalation restricted by surrounding dose limiting structures/side effects.
- Respiratory motion - very patient dependent and can vary from 1cm to 2cm.
Benefit of ART in Lung XRT
- Improved tumour delineation and margin selection
- Adaption for treatment plan due to biological and function response
- Allows for dose escalation, dose maintenance and normal tissue sparing.