Chen Chin-Cheng, Lee Chen-Chiao, Mah Dennis, Sharma Rajiv, Landau Evan, Garg Madhur, Wu Andrew
Department of Radiation Oncology, Montefiore Medical Center and Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY 10461, USA.
Med Dosim. 2011 Spring;36(1):21-7. doi: 10.1016/j.meddos.2009.10.005. Epub 2010 Mar 4.
Because of the dose limit for critical structures such as brainstem and spinal cord, administering a dose of 60 Gy to patients with recurrent head and neck cancer is challenging for those who received a previous dose of 60-70 Gy. Specifically, previously irradiated head and neck patients may have received doses close to the tolerance limit to their brainstem and spinal cord. In this study, a reproducible intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) treatment design is presented to spare the doses to brainstem and spinal cord, with no compromise of prescribed dose delivery. Between July and November 2008, 7 patients with previously irradiated, recurrent head and neck cancers were treated with IMRT. The jaws of each field were set fixed with the goal of shielding the brainstem and spinal cord at the sacrifice of partial coverage of the planning target volume (PTV) from any particular beam orientation. Beam geometry was arranged to have sufficient coverage of the PTV and ensure that the constraints of spinal cord <10 Gy and brainstem <15 Gy were met. The mean maximum dose to the brainstem was 12.1 Gy (range 6.1-17.3 Gy), and the corresponding mean maximum dose to spinal cord was 10.4 Gy (range 8.2-14.1 Gy). For most cases, 97% of the PTV volume was fully covered by the 95% isodose volume. We found empirically that if the angle of cervical spine curvature (Cobb's angle) was less than ∼30°, patients could be treated by 18 fields. Six patients met these criteria and were treated in 25 minutes per fraction. One patient exceeded a 30° Cobb's angle and was treated by 31 fields in 45 minutes per fraction. We have demonstrated a new technique for retreatment of head and neck cancers. The angle of cervical spine curvature plays an important role in the efficiency and effectiveness of our approach.
由于脑干和脊髓等关键结构存在剂量限制,对于之前接受过60 - 70 Gy剂量照射的复发性头颈癌患者,给予60 Gy的剂量具有挑战性。具体而言,先前接受过头颈放疗的患者,其脑干和脊髓所接受的剂量可能已接近耐受极限。在本研究中,提出了一种可重复的调强放射治疗(IMRT)治疗设计,以保护脑干和脊髓免受高剂量照射,同时不影响规定剂量的传递。2008年7月至11月,7例先前接受过放疗的复发性头颈癌患者接受了IMRT治疗。每个射野的准直器均固定设置,目的是屏蔽脑干和脊髓,这会牺牲部分计划靶区(PTV)在任何特定射野方向上的覆盖范围。射野几何形状的安排要确保PTV有足够的覆盖范围,并确保脊髓剂量<10 Gy和脑干剂量<15 Gy的限制得以满足。脑干的平均最大剂量为12.1 Gy(范围6.1 - 17.3 Gy),脊髓的相应平均最大剂量为10.4 Gy(范围8.2 - 14.1 Gy)。在大多数情况下,95%等剂量线体积完全覆盖了97%的PTV体积。我们通过经验发现,如果颈椎曲度(Cobb角)小于约30°,患者可以采用18个射野进行治疗。6例患者符合这些标准,每次分割治疗时间为25分钟。1例患者的Cobb角超过30°,采用31个射野进行治疗,每次分割治疗时间为45分钟。我们展示了一种复发性头颈癌再治疗的新技术。颈椎曲度角在我们治疗方法的效率和效果中起着重要作用。