Author: Felicia Chu, Qiongge Li, Jian Liu 👨🔬
Affiliation: Inova Hospital, Brown University Rhode Island Hospital, Hofstra University Medical Physics Program 🌍
Purpose:
This study aims to enhance the efficiency of stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) planning for lung cancer by developing and evaluating optimization templates derived from historical patient data, particularly focusing on cases with chest wall involvement. The goal is to reduce the labor-intensive nature of manual optimization and improve planning consistency.
Methods:
We analyzed 20 lung SBRT patients, divided into two groups: 10 with chest wall overlapping lesions and 10 without. Optimization templates were created from historical patient plans, with one template derived from a non-chest wall overlapping case (NON-CW) and another from a chest wall overlapping case (CW). These templates were applied to new patient plans, and planning times were recorded. A single-patient study was also conducted to explore the impact of different templates on optimization time, focusing on the number of objectives, structure volumes, and optimization runs.
Results:
The use of CW templates significantly reduced average planning time compared to NON-CW templates (27.1 minutes vs. 33.2 minutes). In the chest wall overlapping group, planning time decreased from 38.2 minutes (NON-CW) to 32.3 minutes (CW). The single-patient study revealed that templates with more stringent chest wall constraints, such as those from Patient 20, further reduced optimization time, requiring fewer optimization runs compared to other templates.
Conclusion:
Template-based optimization, particularly using templates derived from chest wall overlapping cases, significantly improves planning efficiency for lung SBRT. This approach not only reduces planning time but also enhances consistency, making it a valuable tool in clinical settings. Future research should explore the specific qualities of templates that contribute to superior time-saving benefits.