Benefits and challenges of standard ceiling-mounted surface guided radiotherapy systems for breast treatments on Halcyon™

The present work investigates the benefits and challenges of applying surface guided radiation therapy (SGRT) to breast cancer treatments on the Halcyon™ (Varian, USA). Inter-fraction setup accuracy and treatment time were assessed by comparing CBCT shifts registered following SGRT-based vs. standard tattoo-based patient setup in two randomly selected groups of ten breast patients. Next, using a torso phantom and a volunteer, intra-fraction motion tracking accuracy and surface coverage were assessed for 3 adjusted central ceiling camera positions. SGRT was shown to significantly reduce setup errors (mostly within ± 2 mm) compared to tattoos (up to 2.1 cm) in all translational directions (p-value < 0.001). Treatment throughput and efficiency were also significantly improved with SGRT (p = 0.038). Meanwhile, intra-bore surface coverage with an adjusted central SGRT camera proved insufficient, suffering from patient self-occlusions (invisible body parts occluded by patients’ own morphology such as breasts, bellies, arms, etc.) and bore-induced camera obstructions. Tracking accuracy remained satisfactory (sub-0.5 mm) but 6 degrees-of-freedom motion monitoring, critical in stereotactic radiosurgery, stereotactic body radiation therapy and deep inspiration breath hold techniques and clinical applications, was not possible. Standard ceiling-mounted SGRT systems reduce inter-fraction breast setup errors and treatment duration while intra-fraction motion tracking is insufficient for O-ring linear accelerators.