Effects of anatomical changes on dose and normal tissue complication probabilities and the benefit of replanning in photon and proton therapy of lung cancer patients

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Adaptive radiotherapy (ART) protocols are very labor-intensive and the clinical relevance regarding treatment outcome is not always evident. Therefore, the added value of replanning should be investigated. In this study, the effects of anatomical changes on dose and normal tissue complication probability (NTCP) and the benefits of replanning were investigated for photon and proton therapy in lung cancer patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In 83 lung cancer patients with anatomical changes, a treatment plan on the planning CT, and a dose recalculation and replanning on a repeat CT was performed for both photon and proton therapy and subsequently evaluated for clinical dose (target coverage and organ-at-risk maximum dose) and NTCP criteria. RESULTS: The percentage of patients passing the dose evaluation for photons/protons were 89 %/64 % for patients with no or minimal anatomical changes, 83 %/52 % for patients with tumor regression, and 24 %/14 % for patients with atelectasis or pleural effusion. In patients that passed the dose evaluation, the NTCP evaluation failed in 3/53 (6 %) of photon plans and 4/53 (11 %) of proton plans. The number of patients that benefitted substantially from replanning was 7/53 (13 %) for photons and 6/35 (17 %) for protons, with the most evident NTCP improvements in patients with tumor regression. CONCLUSION: ART is not beneficial and required for all patients. However, it is necessary for patients with atelectasis or pleural effusion. ART shows modest NTCP benefits in patients with tumor regression. The dose and NTCP benefits are slightly larger in patients receiving proton therapy compared to photon therapy.