Analysis of the planned, delivered dose distributions and quality assurance for helical tomotherapy and volumetric modulated arc therapy in locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer

BACKGROUND: With full access to both helical tomotherapy (HT) and volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT), we compared locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (LA-NSCLC) treatment plans and verified the plans using patient-specific pretreatment quality assurance (PSQA). MATERIALS AND METHODS: For each of the seventeen patients included in the study, two treatment plans (i.e. HT and VMAT) were created. Optimized plans were evaluated following the ICRU 83 criteria. Planned quality indexes and dosimetric parameters were compared. Lastly, all plans were subjected to PSQA assessment by determining the gamma passing rate (GPR). RESULTS: All dosimetry results obtained from the planning target volume passed the ICRU 83 criteria. With regard to similar homogeneity indices, VMAT produced better conformity number values than HT (0.78 vs. 0.64), but differences in the values were insignificant. Furthermore, VMAT was associated with a significantly shorter mean treatment time (1.91 minutes vs. 6.66 minutes). For PSQA assessment, both techniques resulted in adequate GPR values (> 90% at the 3%/3 mm criteria). CONCLUSION: Both HT and VMAT techniques led to the generation of clinically satisfactory and reliable radiotherapy plans. However, the VMAT plan was associated with a non-significantly better degree of conformity and a significantly shorter treatment time. Thus, VMAT was determined to be a better choice for LA-NSCLC.