Online verification of breath‐hold reproducibility using kV‐triggered imaging for liver stereotactic body radiation therapy

PURPOSE: To introduce a new technique for online breath‐hold verification for liver stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) based on kilovoltage‐triggered imaging and liver dome positions. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Twenty‐five liver SBRT patients treated with deep inspiration breath‐hold were included in this IRB‐approved study. To verify the breath‐hold reproducibility during treatment, a KV‐triggered image was acquired at the beginning of each breath‐hold. The liver dome position was visually compared with the expected upper/lower liver boundaries created by expanding/contracting the liver contour 5 mm in the superior‐inferior direction. If the liver dome was within the boundaries, delivery continued; otherwise, beam was held manually, and the patient was instructed to take another breath‐hold until the liver dome fell within boundaries. The liver dome was delineated on each triggered image. The mean distance between the delineated liver dome to the projected planning liver contour was defined as liver dome position error e(dome). The mean and maximum e(dome) of each patient were compared between no breath‐hold verification (all triggered images) and with online breath‐hold verification (triggered images without beam‐hold). RESULTS: Seven hundred thirteen breath‐hold triggered images from 92 fractions were analyzed. For each patient, an average of 1.5 breath‐holds (range 0–7 for all patients) resulted in beam‐hold, accounting for 5% (0–18%) of all breath‐holds; online breath‐hold verification reduced the mean e(dome) from 3.1 mm (1.3–6.1 mm) to 2.7 mm (1.2–5.2 mm) and the maximum e(dome) from 8.6 mm (3.0–18.0 mm) to 6.7 mm (3.0–9.0 mm). The percentage of breath‐holds with e(dome) >5 mm was reduced from 15% (0–42%) without breath‐hold verification to 11% (0–35%) with online breath‐hold verification. online breath‐hold verification eliminated breath‐holds with e(dome) >10 mm, which happened in 3% (0–17%) of all breath‐holds. CONCLUSION: It is clinically feasible to monitor the reproducibility of each breath‐hold during liver SBRT treatment using triggered images and liver dome. Online breath‐hold verification improves the treatment accuracy for liver SBRT.