针对射程不确定性的质子调强放疗鲁棒优化方法

摘要

目的 因治疗精度高、副作用小,质子调强放疗(IMPT)成为放疗领域的研究热点,但其精度对射程变化非常敏感.本研究提出一种针对射程不确定性的IMPT鲁棒优化方法用于减小射程偏差对放疗计划的影响.方法 首先建立鲁棒优化模型,目标函数采用二次型函数表达式,其中包含3种射程:射程增加、射程正常、射程缩短;每种射程对应的器官剂量贡献矩阵采用质子笔形束算法计算得到.对射程偏差进行离散化,每个射程的发生概率基于高斯分布函数得到.最后采用共轭梯度法优化出最优解,最优解使得靶区和危及器官实际剂量分布在射程偏差内尽量达到期望剂量.结果 采用AAPM TG-119号报告的3套模拟例题测试本研究方法的有效性:鼻咽癌病例、前列腺病例和“C”型病例.与常规IMPT优化结果对比,发现该方法对射程不确定性的敏感性更低.射程发生偏差时,鼻咽癌病例和前列腺病例的靶区和危及器官基本达到期望剂量,“C”型病例的靶区高剂量覆盖率和危及器官保护都有了提高.结论 针对射程不确定性,该方法可得到更高的靶区覆盖率,同时降低危及器官剂量.%Objective Because of high precision and mild side effects,intensity-modulated proton therapy (IMPT) has become a hot spot in the radiotherapy field.Nevertheless,the precision of IMPT is extremely sensitive to the range uncertainties.In this paper,a novel robust optimization method was proposed to reduce the effect of range uncertainty upon IMPT.Methods Firstly,the robust optimization model was established which contained three types of range including the increased range,the normal range and the shortened range.The objective function was expressed in quadratic function.The organ dose contribution matrix of each range was calculated by proton pencil beam algorithm.The range deviation was discretized and the probability of each range was obtained based on the Gauss distribution function.Finally,the conjugate gradient method was adopted to find the optimal solution to make the actual dose coverage of the target area and the organs at risk distributed within the expected dose as possible.Results The 3 sets of simulation tests provided by the AAPM TG-119 Report were utilized to evaluate the effectiveness of this method:nasopharyngeal carcinoma,prostate and "C"-type cases.Compared with conventional IMPT optimization approach,this novel method was less sensitive to the range uncertainty.When the range deviation occurred,the dose coverage of the target area and organs at risk of the nasopharyngeal carcinoma and prostate cases almost reached the expected dose,and the high dose coverage of the target area and organs at risk protection were improved in the"C"-type cases.Conclusions To compensate for the range uncertainty,this novel method can enhance the dose coverage of the target area and reduce the dose coverage of the organs at risk.