Craniospinal irradiation techniques: a dosimetric comparison of proton beams with standard and advanced photon radiotherapy.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the dosimetric benefits of advanced radiotherapy techniques for craniospinal irradiation in cancer in children.

METHODS AND MATERIALS: Craniospinal irradiation (CSI) using three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3D-CRT), tomotherapy (TOMO), and proton beam treatment (PBT) in the scattering mode was planned for each of 10 patients at our institution. Dosimetric benefits and organ-specific radiation-induced cancer risks were based on comparisons of dose-volume histograms (DVHs) and on the application of organ equivalent doses (OEDs), respectively.

RESULTS: When we analyzed the organ-at-risk volumes that received 30%, 60%, and 90% of the prescribed dose (PD), we found that PBT was superior to TOMO and 3D-CRT. On average, the doses delivered by PBT to the esophagus, stomach, liver, lung, pancreas, and kidney were 19.4 Gy, 0.6 Gy, 0.3 Gy, 2.5 Gy, 0.2 Gy, and 2.2 Gy for the PD of 36 Gy, respectively, which were significantly lower than the doses delivered by TOMO (22.9 Gy, 4.5 Gy, 6.1 Gy, 4.0 Gy, 13.3 Gy, and 4.9 Gy, respectively) and 3D-CRT (34.6 Gy, 3.6 Gy, 8.0 Gy, 4.6 Gy, 22.9 Gy, and 4.3 Gy, respectively). Although the average doses delivered by PBT to the chest and abdomen were significantly lower than those of 3D-CRT or TOMO, these differences were reduced in the head-and-neck region. OED calculations showed that the risk of secondary cancers in organs such as the stomach, lungs, thyroid, and pancreas was much higher when 3D-CRT or TOMO was used than when PBT was used.

CONCLUSIONS: Compared with photon techniques, PBT showed improvements in most dosimetric parameters for CSI patients, with lower OEDs to organs at risk.