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01-03-2019 | Original Research

Volume effects in radiosurgical spinal cord dose tolerance: how small is too small?

Authors: Ting Martin Ma, Bahman Emami, Jimm Grimm, Jinyu Xue, Sucha O. Asbell, Gregory J. Kubicek, Rachelle Lanciano, James Welsh, Luke Peng, Chengcheng Gui, Indra J. Das, Howard Warren Goldman, Luther W. Brady, Kristin J. Redmond, Lawrence R. Kleinberg

Published in: Journal of Radiation Oncology | Issue 1/2019

Abstract

Objective

Spinal cord dose constraints are a critical feature for stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT). Spinal cord maximum point dose (Dmax) by Monte Carlo (MC) calculations is used as a critical cord tolerance limit for SBRT, but information is lacking about its reproducibility. This study examines uncertainty of MC dose calculations for small volumes in spine SBRT.

Methods

Seven consecutive spine radiosurgery cases were randomly selected to measure precision of the Dmax calculation in comparison to other volumes. Each plan was calculated five times using MC with a 2% uncertainty objective, and variabilities in dose-volume histogram (DVH) parameters across recalculations were evaluated with coefficient of variation (standard deviation divided by mean). The average ratio of D0.03 cc/Dmax was calculated across a larger series of 130 cases.

Results

The variability of Dmax was twice as high for D0.03 cc and five times as high for D1 cc across recalculations for the seven cases. For larger volumes, the variability was lower. The standard deviation of Dmax was 0.1959 Gy, compared to 0.0931 Gy, 0.0569 Gy, and 0.0364 Gy for D0.03 cc, D0.1 cc, and D1 cc, respectively. The average D0.03 cc/Dmax among 130 cases was 0.93.

Conclusions

Dmax has greater variability compared to D0.03 cc, D0.1 cc, and D1 cc, potentially creating risks when used for guidance for spinal cord. D0.03 cc may be an attractive alternative with higher reliability while its limits could be obtained by scaling the reported Dmax limit by a factor of 0.93. This may help guide treatment planning and aid in discovering true dose constraints for spine SBRT.

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Title: Volume effects in radiosurgical spinal cord dose tolerance: how small is too small?
Authors: Ting Martin Ma
Bahman Emami
Jimm Grimm
Jinyu Xue
Sucha O. Asbell
Gregory J. Kubicek
Rachelle Lanciano
James Welsh
Luke Peng
Chengcheng Gui
Indra J. Das
Howard Warren Goldman
Luther W. Brady
Kristin J. Redmond
Lawrence R. Kleinberg
Publication date: 01-03-2019
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in: Journal of Radiation Oncology / Issue 1/2019
Print ISSN: 1948-7894
Electronic ISSN: 1948-7908
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13566-018-0371-6

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Abstract

Objective

Methods

Results

Conclusions

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