A feasibility study of intrafractional tumor motion estimation based on 4D-CBCT using diaphragm as surrogate

作者:Zhou, Dingyi; Quan, Hong; Yan, Di; Chen, Shupeng; Qin, An; Stanhope, Carl; Lachaine, Martin; Liang, Jian*
来源:Journal of Applied Clinical Medical Physics, 2018, 19(5): 525-531.
DOI:10.1002/acm2.12410

摘要

Purpose: To investigate the intrafractional stability of the motion relationship between the diaphragm and tumor, as well as the feasibility of using diaphragm motion to estimate lung tumor motion. @@@ Methods: Eighty-five paired (pre and posttreatment) daily 4D-CBCT images were obtained from 20 lung cancer patients who underwent SBRT. Bony registration was performed between the pre- and post-CBCT images to exclude patient body movement. The end-exhalation phase image of the pre-CBCT image was selected as the reference image. Tumor positions were obtained for each phase image using contour-based translational alignments. Diaphragm positions were obtained by translational alignment of its apex position. A linear intrafraction model was constructed using regression analysis performed between the diaphragm and tumor positions manifested on the pretreatment 4D-CBCT images. By applying this model to posttreatment 4D-CBCT images, the tumor positions were estimated from posttreatment 4D-CBCT diaphragm positions and compared with measured values. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) test was performed to determine a suitable indicator for predicting the estimate accuracy of the linear model. @@@ Results: Using the linear model, per-phase position, mean position, and excursion estimation errors were 1.12 +/- 0.99 mm, 0.97 +/- 0.88 mm, and 0.79 +/- 0.67 mm, respectively. Intrafractional per-phase tumor position estimation error, mean position error, and excursion error were within 3 mm 95%, 96%, and 99% of the time, respectively. The residual sum of squares (RSS) determined from pretreatment images achieved the largest prediction power for the tumor position estimation error (discrepancy < 3 mm) with an Area Under ROC Curve (AUC) of 0.92 (P < 0.05). @@@ Conclusion: Utilizing the relationship between diaphragm and tumor positions on the pretreatment 4D-CBCT image, intrafractional tumor positions were estimated from intrafractional diaphragm positions. The estimation accuracy can be predicted using the RSS obtained from the pretreatment 4D-CBCT image.