Radiobiological evaluation considering the treatment time with stereotactic radiosurgery for brain metastases.

Abstract

Objective: We evaluated the radiobiological effect of the irradiation time with the interruption time of stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) using CyberKnife^® (CK) systemfor brain metastases.

Methods: We used the DICOM data and irradiation log file of the 10 patients with brain metastases from non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who underwent brain SRS. We defined the treatment time as the sum of the dose-delivery time and the interruption time during irradiations, and we used a microdosimetric kinetic model (MKM) to evaluate the radiobiological effects of the treatment time. The biological parameters, i.e. α₀, β₀, and the DNA repair constant rate (a + c), were acquired from NCI-H460 cell for the MKM. We calculated the radiobiological dose for the gross tumor volume (GTV_bio) to evaluate the treatment time's effect compared with no treatment time as a reference. The D95 (%) and the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group conformity index (RCI) and Paddick conformity index (PCI) were calculated as dosimetric indices. We used several DNA repair constant rates (a + c) (0.46, 1.0, and 2.0) to assess the radiobiological effect by varying the DNA repair date (a + c) values.

Results: The mean values of D95 (%), RCI, and PCI for GTV_bio were 98.8%, 0.90, and 0.80, respectively, and decreased with increasing treatment time. The mean values of D95 (%), RCI, and PCI of GTV_bio at 2.0 (a+c) value were 94.9%, 0.71, and 0.49, respectively.

Conclusion: The radiobiological effect of the treatment time on tumors was accurately evaluated with brain SRS using CK.

Advances in knowledge: There has been no published investigation of the radiobiological impact of the longer treatment time with multiple interruptions of SRS using a CK on the target dose distribution in a comparison with the use of a linac. Radiobiological dose assessment that takes into account treatment time in the physical dose in this study may allow more accurate dose assessment in SRS for metastatic brain tumors using CK.