Independent position correction on tumor and lymph nodes; consequences for bladder cancer irradiation with two combined IMRT plans

BACKGROUND: The application of lipiodol injections as markers around bladder tumors combined with the use of CBCT for image guidance enables daily on-line position correction based on the position of the bladder tumor. However, this might introduce the risk of underdosing the pelvic lymph nodes. In this study several correction strategies were compared. METHODS: For this study set-up errors and tumor displacements for ten complete treatments were generated; both were based on the data of 10 bladder cancer patients. Besides, two IMRT plans were made for 20 patients, one for the elective field and a boost plan for the tumor. For each patient 10 complete treatments were simulated. For each treatment the dose was calculated without position correction (option 1), correction on bony anatomy (option 2), on tumor only (option 3) and separately on bone for the elective field (option 4). For each method we analyzed the D(99% )for the tumor, bladder and lymph nodes and the V(95% )for the small intestines, rectum, healthy part of the bladder and femoral heads. RESULTS: CTV coverage was significantly lower with options 1 and 2. With option 3 the tumor coverage was not significantly different from the treatment plan. The ΔD(99% )(D(99%, option n )- D(99%, treatment plan)) for option 4 was small, but significant. For the lymph nodes the results from option 1 differed not significantly from the treatment plan. The median ΔD(99% )of the other options were small, but significant. ΔD(99% )for PTV(bladder )was small for options 1, 2 and 4, but decreased up to -8.5 Gy when option 3 was applied. Option 4 is the only method where the difference with the treatment plan never exceeds 2 Gy. The V(95% )for the rectum, femoral heads and small intestines was small in the treatment plan and this remained so after applying the correction options, indicating that no additional hot spots occurred. CONCLUSIONS: Applying independent position correction on bone for the elective field and on tumor for the boost separately gives on average the best target coverage, without introducing additional hot spots in the healthy tissue.