Evaluation of Focal Liver Reaction after Proton Beam Therapy for Hepatocellular Carcinoma Examined Using Gd-EOB-DTPA Enhanced Hepatic Magnetic Resonance Imaging

摘要

BackgroundProton beam therapy (PBT) achieves good local control for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and toxicity tends to be lower than for photon radiotherapy. Focal liver parenchymal damage in radiotherapy is described as the focal liver reaction (FLR); the threshold doses (TDs) for FLR in the background liver have been analyzed in stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy and brachytherapy. To develop a safer approach for PBT, both TD and liver volume changes are considered clinically important in predicting the extent of damage before treatment, and subsequently in reducing background liver damage. We investigated appearance time, TDs and volume changes regarding FLR after PBT for HCC.