Emulating the delivery of sawtooth proton arc therapy plans on a cyclotron-based proton beam therapy system

Burford-Eyre, Samuel; Aitkenhead, Adam; Aylward, Jack D.; Henthorn, Nicholas T.; Ingram, Samuel P.; Mackay, Ranald; Manger, Samuel; Merchant, Michael J.; Sitch, Peter; Warmenhoven, John-William; Appleby, Robert B.

Abstract

Purpose: To evaluate and compare the deliverability of ‘sawtooth’ proton arc therapy (PAT) plans relative to static intensity modulated proton therapy (IMPT) at a cyclotron-based clinical facility.

Methods: The delivery of single and dual arc Sawtooth PAT plans for an abdominal CT phantom and multiple clinical cases of brain, head and neck (H&N) and base of skull (BoS) targets was emulated under the step-and-shoot and continuous PAT delivery regimes and compared to that of a corresponding static IMPT plan.

Results: Continuous PAT delivery increased the time associated with beam delivery and gantry movement in single/dual PAT plans by 4.86/7.34 min (brain), 7.51/12.40 min (BoS) and 6.59/10.57 min (H&N) on average relative to static IMPT. Step-and-shoot PAT increased this delivery time further by 4.79 min on average as the delivery was limited by gantry motion.

Conclusions: The emulator can approximately model clinical sawtooth PAT delivery but requires experimental validation. No clear benefit was observed regarding beam-on time for sawtooth PAT relative to static IMPT.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Sep 19, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Sep 27, 2024
• Publication Date: Oct 1, 2024
• Deposit Date: Oct 14, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 14, 2024
• Journal: Cancers
• Electronic ISSN: 2072-6694
• Publisher: MDPI
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 16
• Issue: 19
• Article Number: 3315
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers16193315
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/13285107