Strategies for reducing ovarian dose in volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) for postoperative uterine cervical cancer.

OBJECTIVE

To reduce the ovarian dose with volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT), an original VMAT was designed with two types of arcs to restrict angles and fields (R-VMAT).

METHODS

The subjects were 11 patients who underwent ovarian transposition with clips left by a surgeon. Three methods, intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), standard VMAT (S-VMAT) and R-VMAT, were optimized for assessment of the ovarian dose with the target coverage kept high.

RESULTS

The homogeneity and conformity indexes for the planning target volume (PTV) were similar for the three methods. However, the average ± SD of the ovarian mean dose (OMD) was 5.0 ± 1.5, 4.9 ± 1.9 and 3.5 ± 1.4 Gy, and the percentage of ovarian volume exceeding 5 Gy (V5) was 41.5 ± 34.1%, 34.1 ± 38.05% and 8.4 ± 20.5% for IMRT, S-VMAT and R-VMAT, respectively. The OMD and V5 were significantly smaller for R-VMAT than for the other plans (p < 0.01). Correlation values between the OMD and the lateral distance from the ovaries to the PTV surface were 0.86, 0.81 and 0.82 for IMRT, S-VMAT and R-VMAT, respectively.

CONCLUSION

These findings suggest that R-VMAT delivered the lowest dose to the ovaries. To reduce the OMD to less than 3 Gy, ovaries should be transposed laterally 6.1 cm away from the PTV surface when R-VMAT is used. Advances in knowledge: When organs with high susceptibility to radiation, such as ovaries, are near the PTV, R-VMAT is superior to IMRT and S-VMAT.