Quantitative analysis of intra-fractional variation in CT-based image guided brachytherapy for cervical cancer patients

Brachytherapy with a remote after-loading system (RALS) plays an important role in the treatment of cervical cancer [1,2]. Recent developments in three-dimensional (3D) planning using computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) allow the assessment of 3D dose distributions in brachytherapy, and the widespread use of 3D-image guided brachytherapy (3D-IGBT), dose evaluation facilitates the use of dose volume histogram (DVH) in addition to the dose at “point A” approach. The Gynecologic Brachytherapy Working Group of the Groupe Européen de Curiethérapie and European Society for Radiotherapy Oncology (GEC-ESTRO) has recommended that the values of D2, D1, and D0.1 cm3 (i.e., the minimum doses to the most irradiated tissue volumes of 2 cm3, 1 cm3 and 0.1 cm3) are reported as the DVH parameters for the organ at risk (OAR) [3,4].
Source: Physica Medica: European Journal of Medical Physics - Category: General Medicine Authors: Tags: Original paper Source Type: research