An algorithm for thoracic re-irradiation using biologically effective dose: a common language on how to treat in a “no-treat zone”

BACKGROUND: Re-irradiation (re-RT) is a technically challenging task for which few standardized approaches exist. This is in part due to the lack of a common platform to assess dose tolerance in relation to toxicity in the re-RT setting. To better address this knowledge gap and provide new tools for studying and developing thresholds for re-RT, we developed a novel algorithm that allows for anatomically accurate three-dimensional mapping of composite biological effective dose (BED) distributions from nominal doses (Gy). METHODS: The algorithm was designed to automatically convert nominal dose from prior treatment plans to corresponding BED value maps (voxel size 2.5 mm(3) and α/β of 3 for normal tissue, BED(3)). Following the conversion of each plan to a BED(3) dose distribution, deformable registration was used to create a summed composite re-irradiation BED(3) plan for each patient who received two treatments. A proof-of-principle analysis was performed on 38 re-irradiation cases of initial stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) followed by either re-SABR or chemoradiation for isolated locoregional recurrence of early-stage non-small cell lung cancer. RESULTS: Evaluation of the algorithm-generated maps revealed appropriate conversion of physical dose to BED at each voxel. Of 14 patients receiving repeat SABR, there was one case each of grade 3 chest wall pain (7%), pneumonitis (7%), and dyspnea (7%). Of 24 patients undergoing repeat fractionated radiotherapy, grade 3 events were limited to two cases each of pneumonitis and dyspnea (8%). Composite BED(3) dosimetry for each patient who experienced grade 2–3 events is provided and may help guide development of precise cumulative dose thresholds for organs at risk in the re-RT setting. CONCLUSIONS: This novel algorithm successfully created a voxel-by-voxel composite treatment plan using BED values. This approach may be used to more precisely examine dosimetric predictors of toxicities and to establish more accurate normal tissue constraints for re-irradiation.