Abstract
Purpose: We proposed a novel tool—a dose linear energy transfer (LET)-volume histogram (DLVH)—and performed an exploratory study to investigate rectal bleeding in prostate cancer treated with intensity modulated proton therapy. Methods and Materials: The DLVH was constructed with dose and LET as 2 axes, and the normalized volume of the structure was contoured in the dose-LET plane as isovolume lines. We defined the DLVH index, DLv%(d,l) (ie, v% of the structure) to have a dose of ≥d Gy and an LET of ≥l keV/μm, similar to the dose-volume histogram index Dv%. Nine patients with prostate cancer with rectal bleeding (Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events grade ≥2) were included as the adverse event group, and 48 patients with no complications were considered the control group. A P value map was constructed by comparison of the DLVH indices of all patients between the 2 groups using the Mann-Whitney U test. Dose-LET volume constraints (DLVCs) were derived based on the P value map with a manual selection procedure facilitated by Spearman's correlation tests. The obtained DLVCs were further cross-validated using a multivariate support vector machine (SVM)-based normal tissue complication probability (NTCP) model with an independent testing data set composed of 8 adverse event and 13 control patients. Results: We extracted 2 DLVC constraints. One DLVC was obtained, [Formula presented] <1.27% (DLVC1), revealing a high LET volume effect. The second DLVC, [Formula presented] < 2.23% (DVLC2), revealed a high dose volume effect. The SVM-based NTCP model with 2 DLVCs provided slightly superior performance than using dose only, with an area under the curve of 0.798 versus 0.779 for the testing data set. Conclusions: Our results demonstrated the importance of rectal “hot spots” in both high LET (DLVC1) and high dose (DLVC2) in inducing rectal bleeding. The SVM-based NTCP model confirmed the derived DLVCs as good predictors for rectal bleeding when intensity modulated proton therapy is used to treat prostate cancer.
Original language | English (US) |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 1189-1199 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics |
Volume | 110 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jul 15 2021 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Radiation
- Oncology
- Radiology Nuclear Medicine and imaging
- Cancer Research