Background The study objective was to validate the relative biological effectiveness (RBE) in RayStation for carbon-ion radiotherapy (CIRT) using the Syngo treatment planning system as reference. Methods Local effect model I was established in RayStation (Ray-LEM) with the same parameters as in LEM I in Syngo (Syngo-LEM). Three cube plans covering most of the tumors treated at our center were generated with Syngo-LEM. Ray-LEM re-calculated the Syngo plans and compared the RBEs to the Syngo counterparts. The results showed that RayStation RBE was smaller than Syngo RBE. To ensure that Ray-LEM reproduced Syngo RBE, the observed deviations were used to scale the maximum RBE (RBEmax) in Ray-LEM. After this calibration, we further compared the RayStation RBE to Syngo RBE using additional plans in both homogeneous phantoms and patients, to ensure that the calibrated Ray-LEM reproduced Syngo RBE even with more complex planning features. Results The calibration increased the RBEmax by 2.3% to raise the Ray-LEM RBE. The target mean RBE deviations in the phantom evaluation plans were median: 0.0 (minimum: − 1.1 to maximum: 0.7) %, and the target mean RBE deviations of the clinical target volumes of 16 patient cases were − 0.4 (− 1.5 to 0.2) %. Conclusions The residual RBE difference between RayStation and Syngo was found to be ≤ 1.0%. Thus, we can propose to use RayStation for clinical CIRT treatment planning. However, the potential differences due to the absorbed beam model warrants further exploration.

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Molecular profiling with next-generation sequencing (NGS) has been applied in multiple solid tumors, including melanomas, to identify potential drug targets. However, the association between clinical outcomes and the molecular alterations has not yet been fully clarified. We have analyzed the genetic alterations of 108 malignant melanoma patients using the OncoCare panel, which covers 559 genes. Combining clinical features with genetic analysis, we found that patients carrying both POLD1/ALOX12B or POLD1/PTPRT mutations had a significantly lower survival rate. A model was also established to predict side effects through a combination analysis of clinical data and somatic variants, yielding an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) score of 0.87. In addition, we also found that patients with the POLE mutation had a significantly worse clinical outcome to chemotherapy, while patients with the SOX9 mutation had a significantly worse response to immunotherapy. Overall, these results demonstrate the benefits of applying NGS clinical panels and shed light on future directions of personalized therapeutics for the treatment of melanoma.

Background The study objective was to validate the relative biological effectiveness (RBE) calculated by the modified microdosimetric kinetic model in RayStation (Ray-MKM) for active-energy scanning carbon-ion radiotherapy. Methods The Ray-MKM was benchmarked using a spread-out Bragg-peak (SOBP) plan, which was suggested in literature from the National Institute of Radiobiological Science (NIRS) in Japan. The residual RBE differences from the MKM at NIRS (NIRS-MKM) were derived using several SOBP plans with different ranges, SOBP widths, and prescriptions. To investigate the origins of the differences, we compared the saturation-corrected dose-mean specific energy $$Z_{1D}^{*}$$ Z 1 D ∗ of the aforementioned SOBPs. Furthermore, we converted the RBE-weighted doses with the Ray-MKM to those with local effect model I (LEM doses). The purpose was to investigate whether the Ray-MKM could reproduce the RBE-weighted conversion study. Results The benchmark determined the value of the clinical dose scaling factor, $$F_{clin}$$ F clin , as 2.40. The target mean RBE deviations between the Ray-MKM and NIRS-MKM were median: 0.6 (minimum: 0.0 to maximum: 1.69) %. The $$Z_{1D}^{*}$$ Z 1 D ∗ difference in-depth led to the RBE difference in-depth and was remarkable at the distal end. The converted LEM doses from the Ray-MKM doses were comparable (the deviation being − 1.8–0.7%) to existing literature. Conclusion This study validated the Ray-MKM based on our active-energy scanning carbon-ion beam via phantom studies. The Ray-MKM could generate similar RBEs as the NIRS-MKM after benchmarking. Analysis based on $$Z_{1D}^{*}$$ Z 1 D ∗ indicated that the different beam qualities and fragment spectra caused the RBE differences. Since the absolute dose differences at the distal end were small, we neglected them. Furthermore, each centre may determine its centre-specific $$F_{clin}$$ F clin based on this approach.