Dose profile measurements during respiratory-gated lung stereotactic radiotherapy: A phantom study

During stereotactic body radiotherapy, high radiation dose (∼60 Gy) is delivered to the tumour in small fractionation regime. In this study, the dosimetric characteristics were studied using radiochromic film during respiratory-gated and non-gated lung stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT). Specifically, the effect of respiratory cycle and amplitude, as well as gating window on the dosimetry were studied. In this study, the dose profiles along the irradiated area were measured. The dose profiles for respiratory-gated radiation delivery with different respiratory or tumour motion amplitudes, gating windows and respiratory time per cycle were in agreement with static radiation delivery. The respiratory gating system was able to deliver the radiation dose accurately (±1.05 mm) in the longitudinal direction. Although the treatment time for respiratory-gated SBRT was prolonged, this approach can potentially reduce the margin for internal tumour volume without compromising the tumour coverage. In addition, the normal tissue sparing effect can be improved. (paper)