The normal tissue sparing potential of an adaptive plan selection strategy for re-irradiation of recurrent rectal cancer

Background and purpose Radiotherapy (RT) of rectal cancer is challenged by potentially large inter-fractional anatomy changes. The risk of radiation-induced morbidity is a particular concern in patients receiving re-irradiation for recurrent disease. We propose an adaptive RT plan selection strategy for these patients and report on its clinical feasibility and normal tissue sparing potential. Material and methods Eight patients with pelvic recurrence were re-irradiated according to a hyper-fractionation protocol (ReRAD-I; 40.8Gy) using margins around the clinical target volume (CTV) of 15mm trimmed to anatomical barriers (Plan L). Two new library plans (S and M) were created for each patient, with the target volumes covering the CTV with isotropic margins of 5 and 10mm. Pre-treatment cone beam CTs were assessed to determine which plan would cover the CTV following soft-tissue match. The selected plans were compared to the clinically delivered plan in terms of normal tissue volume receiving 95% of the dose (V95%) and the volume of bone receiving 30Gy (V30Gy). Results Plan selections could be performed on all CBCTs for all patients. Plan S was chosen in 213 fractions (79%), plan M in 53 (20%) and plan L in 2 fractions. Normal tissue V95% was reduced by 67% (median; range 30–79%) while bone V30Gy was reduced by 66% (median; range 40–100%). Conclusion The CTV and/or surrogate structures were visible on all CBCTs. Margins smaller than those used clinically would have accounted for 99% of the observed target deformations, translating into a considerable normal tissue sparing potential.