Technical Delivery Parameters of 2000 Proton Treatment Courses

Abstract

Purpose: To summarize the technical delivery parameters of proton plans delivered at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Materials and Methods: The database of treated patient proton plans was queried to extract field parameters such as gantry angle, patient support angle, minimum and maximum water-equivalent depth (WED) treated, number of layers, field size, patient orientation, and monitor units. The plans were analyzed in aggregate, by disease site, and by fractionation. Results: There were 2963 proton plans for 2023 distinct treatment sites delivered between June 2015 and September 2018. The mean number of fields per plan was 2.8. The mean number of energy layers per field was 51.9. The mean monitor unit per field was 117.4. The median maximum field dimension was 12.4 cm; 95% of the fields had a maximum dimension < 28.7 cm, and the maximum field dimension was 39.8 cm. The median maximum field WED was 16.4 cm; 95% of the fields reached a maximum WED of ≤ 26.4 cm, and the maximum field WED was 32.4 cm. Conclusion: A large variety of disease sites were treated using the maximum field size (40 cm) and WED (32.4 cm) capabilities of our half-gantry system.

Keywords

• proton therapy
• pencil-beam scanning
• gantry