MR-only procedures for improved overall precision in radiotherapy

•  Purpose/Objective(s) To reduce the overall geometrical uncertainty in radiotherapy by introducing a novel technology arrangement based on a dedicated MR in an integrated workflow. A new logistics model needed to incorporate MR in this way was developed and clinically evaluated. Testing the assumption that MR is a better choice for target and healthy tissue delineation in radiotherapy, the suggested procedure was analyzed with respect to feasibility and precision of MR-only imaging compared to CT. The focus of the present study was on the geometrical uncertainty which is connected to the required margins between PTV and CTV.   Materials/Methods A 1.5-T “open bore” MR unit with a 70-cm-bore size, Siemens Espree, was installed in close proximity to a treatment unit. A new MR-based workflow procedure was developed where all target drawing and treatment planning was performed on MR-data only. For non-fixed soft tissue targets, e.g. prostate, a special trolley was developed for transporting patients, who were immobilized, between the MR unit and the accelerator. The geometrical uncertainty using the transport solution was added to the uncertainty originating from the target definition process and compared with the total uncertainty in a more conventional CT based workflow. Results MR-only treatment planning has been facilitated, thus avoiding all registration errors between CT and MR data, but several new aspects of MR imaging must be considered. Reliable corrections of geometrical distortions must be applied and electron density information must be obtained by other methods. The feasibility of MR virtual simulation has previously been demonstrated. However, a key challenge is improve the visualization of skeletal structures, which is often needed for the traditional approach of set-up verification. The trolley solution allows for a highly precise setup of soft tissue targets without the invasive handling of fiducial markers. In the overall analyses of geometrical uncertainties it was shown that the combined uncertainty is reduced with the MR based workflow, mostly because of reduced systematic uncertainties when the CT-image registration is avoided. Conclusions The new logistics model is efficient and will allow for improved tumor definition and geometrical precision without a significant loss of dosimetric accuracy. Treatment planning directly on MR images is a way to reduce the geometrical uncertainty for e.g. prostate treatments. MR aided patient positioning does not require implanted fiducial markers and will be facilitated by rigid MR-MR registration. Less precise soft tissue CT-CT or CT-MR registrations will thus be avoided.

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