Temporal lobe injury patterns following intensity modulated radiotherapy in a large cohort of nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients

Abstract

Objectives: To analyze the correlation between dose-volume-histograms (DVHs) with three patterns (edema, enhancement, and necrosis) of temporal lobe injury (TLI) in patients receiving intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and to determine optimal thresholds to predict the incidence of each TLI pattern, with particular emphasis on the relationship between edema volume and the risk of enhancement and necrosis.

Materials and methods: A cohort of 4186 NPC patients treated with IMRT was retrospectively reviewed with TLI presenting in 188 patients. The atlases of complication incidence (ACI) for each pattern were constructed using DVH curves of temporal lobes. Optimal threshold for predicting incidence of each pattern was determined using the point closest to top-left of the plot. The accuracy of using edema volume to predict enhancement and necrosis incidence was evaluated via area under curve (AUC) of receiver operator characteristics (ROC).

Results: All DVH parameters, D_mean, D_max, D_0.25cc, D_0.5cc, D_1cc, D_3cc, D_6cc, V_20Gy, V_30Gy, V_40Gy, V_50Gy, V_60Gy, and V_70Gy, except D_min showed statistically significant differences between subgroups of each pattern (p < 0.05). For predicting incidence of each pattern, optimal DVH thresholds over the range of D_0.25-D_1cc, D_mean and V₂₀-V₇₀ were derived. The optimal thresholds of edema volume for predicting enhancement were 0.96 and 2.2cc and for predicting necrosis were 0.94 and 11.5cc.

Conclusion: Optimal DVH thresholds were generated for limiting risk of each injury pattern. Edema volume was a strong predictor for risk of enhancement and necrosis, which could potentially be reduced by lowering edema volume below threshold.

Keywords: Dose-volume-histogram; Intensity modulated radiation therapy; Nasopharyngeal carcinoma; Temporal lobe injury.