Radiobiological effects of the interruption time with Monte Carlo Simulation on multiple fields in photon beams

Abstract

Purpose The interruption time is the irradiation interruption that occurs at sites and operations such as the gantry, collimator, couch rotation, and patient setup within the field in radiotherapy. However, the radiobiological effect of prolonging the treatment time by the interruption time for tumor cells is little evaluated. We investigated the effect of the interruption time on the radiobiological effectiveness with photon beams based on a modified microdosimetric kinetic (mMK) model. Methods The dose‐mean lineal energy y D (keV/µm) of 6‐MV photon beams was calculated by the particle and heavy ion transport system (PHITS). We set the absorbed dose to 2 or 8 Gy, and the interruption time (τ) was set to 1, 3, 5, 10, 30, and 60 min. The biological parameters such as α 0, β 0, and DNA repair constant rate (a + c) values were acquired from a human non‐small‐cell lung cancer cell line (NCI‐H460) for the mMK model. We used two‐field and four‐field irradiation with a constant dose rate (3 Gy/min); the photon beams were paused for interruption time τ. We calculated the relative biological effectiveness (RBE) to evaluate the interruption time's effect compared with no interrupted as a reference. Results The y D of 6‐MV photon beams was 2.32 (keV/µm), and there was little effect by changing the water depth (standard deviation was 0.01). The RBE with four‐field irradiation for 8 Gy was decreased to 0.997, 0.975, 0.900, and 0.836 τ = 1, 10, 30, 60 min, respectively. In addition, the RBE was affected by the repair constant rate (a + c) value, the greater the decrease in RBE with the longer the interruption time when the (a + c) value was large. Conclusion The ~10‐min interruption of 6‐MV photon beams did not significantly impact the radiobiological effectiveness, since the RBE decrease was <3%. Nevertheless, the RBE's effect on tumor cells was decreased about 30% by increasing the 60 min interruption time at 8 Gy with four‐field irradiation. It is thus necessary to make the interruption time as short as possible.

Mathematical model combined with microdosimetric kinetic model for tumor volume calculation in stereotactic body radiation therapy

“…There are several reports regarding the effect of a prolonged dose-delivery time (t intra ) on tumor cell survival, and a prolonged dose-delivery time was reported to decrease the effect on tumors 37,40,41,58 . The delivered biologically effective dose (BED) levels were calculated due to alterations in the SLDR, and a loss of BED was observed on 13 Gy with the dose-delivery time of 35 min compared to the acute-exposure approach.…”

“…The parameter F is identified with the Lea-Catcheside time-factor G 39 . We used the α/β and DNA repair half-life T 1/2 values of the parameters for calculating the DNA repair rate (a + c) value of two NSCLC cell lines, A549 and NCI-H460 (H460) to evaluate the radiation effect of SBRT 28,29,[40][41][42] .…”

Mathematical Model Combined with Microdosimetric Kinetic Model for Tumor Volume Calculation in Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy

“…The parameter F is identified with the Lea-Catcheside time-factor G. 43 We used the α/β and DNA repair half-life T1/2 values of the parameters for calculating the DNA repair rate (a + c) value of two NSCLC cell lines, A549 and NCI-H460 (H460) to evaluate the radiation effect of SBRT [32,33,[44][45][46].…”

“…In the future, in order to optimize the parameters of the model, it will be necessary to collect experimental data and clinical data and optimize parameters such as V1, V2, VQ, and α/β. There are several reports regarding the effect of a prolonged dose-delivery time (tintra) on tumor cell survival, and a prolonged dose-delivery time was reported to decrease the effect on tumors [40,44,45,59]. Moutsatsos et al calculated the delivered biologically effective dose (BED) levels due to alterations in the SLDR, and a loss of BED was observed on 13 Gy with the dose-delivery time of 35 min compared to the acute-exposure approach.…”