Fully automated treatment planning of spinal metastases – A comparison to manual planning of Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy for conventionally fractionated irradiation

Table 1 Characteristics of spinal irradiation plans (n = 42)

		Number of sites
Irradiation site	Cervical spine	None
	Cervical and thoracic spine	2
	Thoracic spine^a	15
	Thoracic and lumbar spine	17
	Thoracic and lumbar spine, Sacrum	3
	Lumbar spine	4
	Lumbar spine and Sacrum	1
Primary tumor site	Breast Cancer	15
	Prostate Cancer	11
	Lung Cancer	5
	Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer	3
	Small Cell Lung Cancer	2
	Gastric and Oesophageal Cancer	5
	Multiple Myeloma	3
	Head and Neck	1
	Unknown Primary	1
	Urothelial Cell Carcinoma	1
Organs at risk	Kidneys	22
	Lungs	17
	Lungs and kidneys in one plan^b	3
Median dose	40Gy	9
Median dose	30Gy	33

Concerning PTV coverage, keeping the patients in both groups would have weighted these 3 plans double, therefore all statistics were recalculated under inclusion/exclusion of these patients. This did not change statistical significance in any case (i.e., only numerical changes occurred)
^aincluding 3 plans in which a rib metastasis was included into the irradiation field. In one plan a rib metastasis and a soft tissue metastatic site were included into the irradiation field
^bin 3 plans, lungs and kidneys were both considered OARs. For statistical considerations, these plans were evaluated in both groups concerning calculations for organs at risk

ISSN: 1748-717X