Effect of variations in atelectasis on tumor displacement during radiation therapy for locally advanced lung cancer

Nathan Tennyson, Elisabeth Weiss, William Sleeman, Mihaela Rosu, Nuzhat Jan, Geoffrey D. Hugo

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

11 Scopus citations

Abstract

Purpose Atelectasis (AT), or collapsed lung, is frequently associated with central lung tumors. We investigated the variation of atelectasis volumes during radiation therapy and analyzed the effect of AT volume changes on the reproducibility of the primary tumor (PT) position. Methods and materials Twelve patients with lung cancer who had AT and 10 patients without AT underwent repeated 4-dimensional fan beam computed tomography (CT) scans during radiation therapy per protocols that were approved by the institutional review board. Interfraction volume changes of AT and PT were correlated with PT displacements relative to bony anatomy using both a bounding box (BB) method and change in center of mass (COM). Linear regression modeling was used to determine whether PT and AT volume changes were independently associated with PT displacement. PT displacement was compared between patients with and without AT. Results The mean initial AT volume on the planning CT was 189 cm3 (37-513 cm3), and the mean PT volume was 93 cm3 (12-176 cm3). During radiation therapy, AT and PT volumes decreased on average 136.7 cm3 (20-369 cm3) for AT and 40 cm3 (−7 to 131 cm3) for PT. Eighty-three percent of patients with AT had at least one unidirectional PT shift that was greater than 0.5 cm outside of the initial BB during treatment. In patients with AT, the maximum PT COM shift was ≥0.5 cm in all patients and >1 cm in 58% of patients (0.5-2.4 cm). Changes in PT and AT volumes were independently associated with PT displacement (P <.01), and the correlation was smaller with COM (R2 = 0.58) compared with the BB method (R2 = 0.80). The median root mean squared PT displacement with the BB method was significantly less for patients without AT (0.45 cm) compared with those with AT (0.8cm, P =.002). Conclusions Changes in AT and PT volumes during radiation treatment were significantly associated with PT displacements that often exceeded standard setup margins. Repeated 3-dimensional imaging is recommended in patients with AT to evaluate for PT displacements during treatment.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)19-26
Number of pages8
JournalAdvances in Radiation Oncology
Volume2
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 1 2017

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