A 4D treatment planning tool for the evaluation of motion effects on lung cancer treatments

In this study, a 4D treatment planning tool using an analytical model accounting for breathing motion is investigated to evaluate the motion effect on delivered dose for lung cancer treatments with three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3DCRT). The Monte Carlo EGS4/MCDOSE user code is used in the treatment planning dose calculation, and the patient CT data are converted into respective patient geometry files for Monte Carlo dose calculation. The model interpolates CT images at different phases of the breathing cycle from patient CT scans taken at end inspiration and end expiration phases and the chest wall position. Correlation between the voxels in a reference CT dataset and the voxels in the interpolated CT datasets at any breathing phases is established so that the dose to a voxel can be accumulated through the entire breathing cycle. Simulated lung tumors at different locations are used to demonstrate our model in 3DCRT for lung cancer treatments. We demonstrated the use of a 4D treatment planning tool in evaluating the breathing motion effect on delivered dose for different planning margins. Further studies are being conducted to use this tool to study the lung motion effect through large-scale analysis and to implement this useful tool for treatment planning dose calculation and plan evaluation for 4D radiotherapy.