Radiobiological treatment planning evaluation of inverse planning simulated annealing for cervical cancer high-dose-rate brachytherapy

Abstract

Aim: To compare five inverse treatment plans with one conventional manually-optimized plan for cervical cancer brachytherapy (BT) using radiobiological parameters combined with dosimetric and volumetric parameters.

Materials and methods: Five inverse treatment plans were calculated using an inverse planning simulated annealing (IPSA) algorithm for each of four fractions for 12 cervical cancer patients treated with high-dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy. The inverse treatment plans were compared to a manually-optimized plan used for the actual treatment of the patients. The comparison of the plans was performed with respect to the probability of cure without complication (P+).

Results: Overall, the manually optimized plan scored the best results; however, the probability of cure without complication is within an acceptable clinical range for all the plans.

Conclusion: Although there are still considerable uncertainties in the radiobiological parameters, the radiobiological plan evaluation method presents itself as a potential complement to physical dosimetric methods.

Keywords: Brachytherapy; IPSA; radiobiological evaluation.