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Jozsef, Gabor

Publications and source records attributed to Jozsef, Gabor.

Prone Accelerated Partial Breast Irradiation After Breast-Conserving Surgery: Compliance to the Dosimetry Requirements of RTOG-0413

Purpose: The dosimetric results from our institution's trials of prone accelerated partial breast irradiation are compared with the dosimetric requirements of RTOG-0413. Methods and Materials: Trial 1 and Trial 2 are 2 consecutive trials of prone-accelerated partial breast irradiation. Eligible for both trials were stage I breast cancer patients with negative margins after breast-conserving surgery. The planning target tumor volume (PTV) was created by extending the surgical cavity 2.0 cm for Trial 1 and 1.5 cm for Trial 2, respectively. Contralateral breast, heart, lungs, and thyroid were contoured. Thirty Gray was delivered in five daily fractions of 6 Gy by a three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy technique in Trial 1 and were by image-guided radiation therapy/intensity-modulated radiation therapy in Trial 2. Dosimetric results from the trials are reported and compared with RTOG 0413 requirements. Results: One hundred forty-six consecutive plans were analyzed: 67 left and 79 right breast cancers. The plans from the trials complied with the required >90% of prescribed dose covering 90% of PTV{sub E}VAL (=generated from the PTV by cropping 0.5 cm from the skin edge and excluding the chest wall): V90% was 98.1 {+-} 3.0% (with V100% and V95%, 89.4 {+-} 12.8%, 96.4 {+-} 5.1%, respectively). No significant difference between laterality was found (Student's t test). The dose constraints criteria of the RTOG-0413 protocol for ipsilateral and contralateral lung (V30 <15% and Dmax <3%), heart (V5 <40%), and thyroid (Dmax <3%) were satisfied because the plans showed an average V5% of 0.6% (range, 0-13.4) for heart, an average V30% of 0.6% (range, 0-9.1%) for ipsilateral lung, and <2% maximum dose to the thyroid. However, our partial breast irradiation plans demonstrated a higher dose to contralateral breast than that defined by RTOG constraints, with a median value of maximum doses of 4.1% (1.2 Gy), possibly as a result of contouring differences. Conclusions: Our technique for prone accelerated partial breast irradiation generally satisfied RTOG-0413 requirements.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗

Prone Accelerated Partial Breast Irradiation After Breast-Conserving Surgery: Five-year Results of 100 Patients

Purpose: To report the 5-year results of a prospective trial of three-dimensional conformal external beam radiotherapy (3D-CRT) to deliver accelerated partial breast irradiation in the prone position. Methods and Materials: Postmenopausal patients with Stage I breast cancer with nonpalpable tumors <2 cm, negative margins and negative nodes, positive hormone receptors, and no extensive intraductal component were eligible. The trial was offered only after eligible patients had refused to undergo standard whole-breast radiotherapy. Patients were simulated and treated on a dedicated table for prone setup. 3D-CRT was delivered at a dose of 30 Gy in five 6-Gy/day fractions over 10 days with port film verification at each treatment. Rates of ipsilateral breast failure, ipsilateral nodal failure, contralateral breast failure, and distant failure were estimated using the cumulative incidence method. Rates of disease-free, overall, and cancer-specific survival were recorded. Results: One hundred patients were enrolled in this institutional review board-approved prospective trial, one with bilateral breast cancer. One patient withdrew consent after simulation, and another patient elected to interrupt radiotherapy after receiving two treatments. Ninety-eight patients were evaluable for toxicity, and, in 1 case, both breasts were treated with partial breast irradiation. Median patient age was 68 years (range, 53-88 years); in 55% of patients the tumor size was <1 cm. All patients had hormone receptor-positive cancers: 87% of patients underwent adjuvant antihormone therapy. At a median follow-up of 64 months (range, 2-125 months), there was one local recurrence (1% ipsilateral breast failure) and one contralateral breast cancer (1% contralateral breast failure). There were no deaths due to breast cancer by 5 years. Grade 3 late toxicities occurred in 2 patients (one breast edema, one transient breast pain). Cosmesis was rated good/excellent in 89% of patients with at least 36 months follow-up. Conclusions: Five-year efficacy and toxicity of 3D-CRT delivered in prone partial breast irradiation are comparable to other experiences with similar follow-up.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗

Automated beam placement for breast radiotherapy using a support vector machine based algorithm

Purpose: To develop an automated beam placement technique for whole breast radiotherapy using tangential beams. We seek to find optimal parameters for tangential beams to cover the whole ipsilateral breast (WB) and minimize the dose to the organs at risk (OARs). Methods: A support vector machine (SVM) based method is proposed to determine the optimal posterior plane of the tangential beams. Relative significances of including/avoiding the volumes of interests are incorporated into the cost function of the SVM. After finding the optimal 3-D plane that separates the whole breast (WB) and the included clinical target volumes (CTVs) from the OARs, the gantry angle, collimator angle, and posterior jaw size of the tangential beams are derived from the separating plane equation. Dosimetric measures of the treatment plans determined by the automated method are compared with those obtained by applying manual beam placement by the physicians. The method can be further extended to use multileaf collimator (MLC) blocking by optimizing posterior MLC positions. Results: The plans for 36 patients (23 prone- and 13 supine-treated) with left breast cancer were analyzed. Our algorithm reduced the volume of the heart that receives >500 cGy dose (V5) from 2.7 to 1.7 cm{sup 3} (p = 0.058) on average and the volume of the ipsilateral lung that receives >1000 cGy dose (V10) from 55.2 to 40.7 cm{sup 3} (p = 0.0013). The dose coverage as measured by volume receiving >95% of the prescription dose (V95%) of the WB without a 5 mm superficial layer decreases by only 0.74% (p = 0.0002) and the V95% for the tumor bed with 1.5 cm margin remains unchanged. Conclusions: This study has demonstrated the feasibility of using a SVM-based algorithm to determine optimal beam placement without a physician's intervention. The proposed method reduced the dose to OARs, especially for supine treated patients, without any relevant degradation of dose homogeneity and coverage in general.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Prone Hypofractionated Whole-Breast Radiotherapy Without a Boost to the Tumor Bed: Comparable Toxicity of IMRT Versus a 3D Conformal Technique

Purpose: We report a comparison of the dosimetry and toxicity of three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3D-CRT) vs. intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) among patients treated in the prone position with the same fractionation and target of the hypofractionation arm of the Canadian/Whelan trial. Methods and Materials: An institutional review board-approved protocol identified a consecutive series of early-stage breast cancer patients treated according to the Canadian hypofractionation regimen but in the prone position. Patients underwent IMRT treatment planning and treatment if the insurance carrier approved reimbursement for IMRT; in case of refusal, a 3D-CRT plan was used. A comparison of the dosimetric and toxicity outcomes during the acute, subacute, and long-term follow-up of the two treatment groups is reported. Results: We included 97 consecutive patients with 100 treatment plans in this study (3 patients with bilateral breast cancer); 40 patients were treated with 3D-CRT and 57 with IMRT. IMRT significantly reduced the maximum dose (Dmax median, 109.96% for 3D-CRT vs. 107.28% for IMRT; p < 0.0001, Wilcoxon test) and improved median dose homogeneity (median, 1.15 for 3D-CRT vs. 1.05 for IMRT; p < 0.0001, Wilcoxon test) when compared with 3D-CRT. Acute toxicity consisted primarily of Grade 1 to 2 dermatitis and occurred in 92% of patients. Grade 2 dermatitis occurred in 13% of patients in the 3D-CRT group and 2% in the IMRT group. IMRT moderately decreased rates of acute pruritus (p = 0.03, chi-square test) and Grade 2 to 3 subacute hyperpigmentation (p = 0.01, Fisher exact test). With a minimum of 6 months' follow-up, the treatment was similarly well tolerated in either group, including among women with large breast volumes. Conclusion: Hypofractionated breast radiotherapy is well tolerated when treating patients in the prone position, even among those with large breast volumes. Breast IMRT significantly improves dosimetry but yields only a modest but confirmed benefit in terms of toxicities. If a concurrent boost to the tumor bed is not required, a conformal 3D-CRT approach can adequately deliver prone whole-breast hypofractionation radiotherapy.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗