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Background/Aim: To identify the clinical and dosimetric predictors of severe acute radiation esophagitis (RE) in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with accelerated hyperfractionated concurrent chemoradiotherapy (AH-CCRT) with concomitant boost technique. Patients and Methods: A total of 159 patients who underwent AH-CCRT (64 Gy in 40 fractions twice daily) were retrospectively identified. Severe RE was designated as grade 3 or higher according to the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events, version 4.0. Results: The incidence rate of grade 3 RE was 15.1% (24/159). The multivariate analysis that incorporated the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status (ECOG PS, ≥1 vs. 0) and the relative esophagus volume irradiated with at least 60 Gy (V 60) was optimal. Patients with a V 60 of ≥15% had a 37.8% risk of grade 3 RE compared to a 6.1% risk among those with a V 60 of <15%. Conclusion: ECOG PS (≥1 vs. 0) and the V 60 were found to be significant risk factors for severe RE in NSCLC patients who underwent AH-CCRT. Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is a major cause of death worldwide. The standard of care for patients with locally 491 This study was presented in part as poster at the 59th Annual Meeting of the

& teruki teshima 1 the prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (Hcc) with portal vein tumour thrombus (pVtt) is poor. We conducted a prospective study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of tri-modality therapy, including preoperative stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRt) and surgery, followed by hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy (HAic) in Hcc patients with pVtt. in this report, we investigated the pathology of the irradiated PVTT specimen in resected cases and SBRT-related acute toxicity. A total of 8 HCC patients with PVTT received preoperative SBRT targeting the PVTT at a dose of 48 Gy in 4 fractions at our institute from 2012 to 2016. Of the eight patients, six underwent surgery, while the remaining two did not because of disease progression. At the pathological examination, all patients' irradiated pVtt specimens showed necrotic tissue, and three of six patients showed complete pathological response. Two patients showed 30% necrosis with high degeneration and one patient, with 30% necrosis without degeneration, was the only recurrent case found during the follow-up period (median: 22.5, range: 5.9-49.6 months). No SBRT-related acute toxicity worse than grade 2 was observed from SBRT to surgery. In conclusion, the preoperative SBRT for HCC was pathologically effective and the acute toxicities were tolerable.

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Purpose To validate the clinical applicability of knowledge‐based (KB) planning in single‐isocenter volumetric‐modulated arc therapy (VMAT) for multiple brain metastases using the k ‐fold cross‐validation (CV) method. Methods This study comprised 60 consecutive patients with multiple brain metastases treated with single‐isocenter VMAT (28 Gy in five fractions). The patients were divided randomly into five groups (Groups 1–5). The data of Groups 1–4 were used as the training and validation dataset and those of Group 5 were used as the testing dataset. Four KB models were created from three of the training and validation datasets and then applied to the remaining Groups as the fourfold CV phase. As the testing phase, the final KB model was applied to Group 5 and the dose distributions were calculated with a single optimization process. The dose‐volume indices (DVIs), modified Ian Paddick Conformity Index (mIPCI), modulation complexity scores for VMAT plans (MCSv), and the total number of monitor units (MUs) of the final KB plan were compared to those of the clinical plan (CL) using a paired Wilcoxon signed‐rank test. Results In the fourfold CV phase, no significant differences were observed in the DVIs among the four KB plans (KBPs). In the testing phase, the final KB plan was statistically equivalent to the CL, except for planning target volumes (PTVs) D 2% and D 50% . The differences between the CL and KBP in terms of the PTV D 99.5% , normal brain, and D max to all organs at risk (OARs) were not significant. The KBP achieved a lower total number of MUs and higher MCSv than the CL with no significant difference. Conclusions We demonstrated that a KB model in a single‐isocenter VMAT for multiple brain metastases was equivalent in dose distribution, MCSv, and total number of MUs to a CL with a single optimization.

This study sought to develop and validate a prognostic model for non-lung cancer death (NLCD) in elderly patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT). Patients aged ≥65 diagnosed with NSCLC (Tis-4N0M0), tumor diameter ≤5 cm and SBRT between 1998 and 2015 were retrospectively registered from two independent institutions. One institution was used for model development (arm D, 353 patients) and the other for validation (arm V, 401 patients). To identify risk factors for NLCD, multiple regression analysis on age, sex, performance status (PS), body mass index (BMI), Charlson comorbidity index (CCI), tumor diameter, histology and T-stage was performed on arm D. A score calculated using the regression coefficient was assigned to each factor and three risk groups were defined based on total score. Scores of 1.0 (BMI ≤18.4), 1.5 (age ≥ 5), 1.5 (PS ≥2), 2.5 (CCI 1 or 2) and 3 (CCI ≥3) were assigned, and risk groups were designated as low (total ≤ 3), intermediate (3.5 or 4) and high (≥4.5). The cumulative incidences of NLCD at 5 years in the low, intermediate and high-risk groups were 6.8, 23 and 40% in arm D, and 23, 19 and 44% in arm V, respectively. The AUC index at 5 years was 0.705 (arm D) and 0.632 (arm V). The proposed scoring system showed usefulness in predicting a high risk of NLCD in elderly patients treated with SBRT for NSCLC.

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Background: To assess the positional repeatability of internal and external markers among multiple breath-hold (BH) sessions and assess the positional variation of these markers within BH sessions for volumetric-modulated arc therapy (VMAT) for pancreatic cancer patients. Methods: A total of 13 consecutive pancreatic cancer patients with an internal marker were enrolled. Single full-arc coplanar VMAT was delivered under end-exhalation (EE) BH conditions, while monitoring the internal marker with kilovoltage (kV) X-ray fluoroscopy. Positional repeatability of internal and external markers was indicated by the difference between the reference marker position and the marker position at the beginning of each BH session, and positional variation was indicated by the maximum displacement of the marker during each BH session. Results: The overall positional repeatability was 0.6 ± 1.5 mm in the X-axis for the centroid of the internal marker (CoIM), -0.1 ± 2.2 mm in the Y-axis for the CoIM, and 0.8 ± 2.2 mm for the external marker. An internal marker position > 2 mm from the reference position in the Y-axis was observed in 19.1% of all BH sessions, despite the external marker position being ≤ 2 mm from the reference position. Meanwhile, the proportion of sessions with positional variation ≤ 2 mm was 93.2% and 98.7% for the CoIM and external marker, respectively. Conclusions: External marker motion can be used as a surrogate for pancreatic tumor motion during BH-VMAT; however, an optimal internal margin is required to ensure positional repeatability.