Treatment verification with prompt-gamma-imaging: Detection of anatomical changes in prostate-cancer proton therapy

Introduction We present results of the worldwide first systematic study on the sensitivity of prompt-gamma-imaging (PGI) to detect anatomical changes in proton therapy for the ongoing evaluation in prostate-cancer treatments. Materials&Methods Spot-wise range shifts were monitored with a PGI-slit-camera during 40 fractions of hypo-fractionated prostate-cancer treatments (5 patients, 2 fields, each 1.5GyE). In-room CTs were acquired for these fractions and range shifts of spot-wise integrated depth-dose (IDD) profiles serve as ground-truth. For both PGI and IDD data, spots were clustered based on Bragg-peak position and proton number to mitigate statistical uncertainty in the PGI measurement using a low-dose spot cut-off at 5e7 protons, a minimum number of 3e9 protons per cluster, and a minimum/maximum cluster volume of 1cm3/8cm3. Clusters with absolute range shift ≥5mm were classified as relevant anatomical changes. Results A strong correlation (rPearson=0.72) was found between ground-truth IDD and PGI range shifts per cluster with an average absolute deviation of 1.3mm over all fractions. In total, 245/7143 (3.4%) clusters (found within 24/72 fields) contained relevant IDD-based range shifts. PGI detected these changes with a sensitivity of 68%, specificity of 96%, and accuracy of 95%. The results might be affected by potential intra-fractional changes between in-room CT acquisition and treatment delivery. A higher sensitivity is also expected for a gantry-mounted camera system with decreased positioning uncertainty. Conclusion Our systematic investigation on the sensitivity of a PGI-slit-camera with a first quantitative comparison of range shifts from PGI and IDD profiles demonstrates the capability to locally detect relevant anatomical changes in patients.