# Probability of normal tissue complications for hematologic and gastrointestinal toxicity in postoperative whole pelvic radiotherapy for gynecologic malignancies using intensity-modulated proton therapy with robust optimization

## TL;DR

This study compares different radiation therapy methods for gynecologic cancer, finding that proton therapy with robust optimization may reduce risks of blood and gut side effects.

## Contribution

The study introduces robust optimization in proton therapy for gynecologic malignancies, showing reduced toxicity risks compared to conventional methods.

## Key findings

- ro-IMPT significantly reduced acute hematologic toxicity compared to 3D-CRT and IMXT.
- ro-IMPT showed equivalent acute GI toxicity to IMXT but lower late GI toxicity.
- ro-IMPT improved dose coverage to the target while reducing dose to normal tissues.

## Abstract

This retrospective treatment-planning study was conducted to determine whether intensity-modulated proton therapy with robust optimization (ro-IMPT) reduces the risk of acute hematologic toxicity (H-T) and acute and late gastrointestinal toxicity (GI-T) in postoperative whole pelvic radiotherapy for gynecologic malignancies when compared with three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy (3D-CRT), intensity-modulated X-ray (IMXT) and single-field optimization proton beam (SFO-PBT) therapies. All plans were created for 13 gynecologic-malignancy patients. The prescribed dose was 45 GyE in 25 fractions for 95% planning target volume in 3D-CRT, IMXT and SFO-PBT plans and for 99% clinical target volume (CTV) in ro-IMPT plans. The normal tissue complication probability (NTCP) of each toxicity was used as an in silico surrogate marker. Median estimated NTCP values for acute H-T and acute and late GI-T were 0.20, 0.94 and 0.58 × 10−1 in 3D-CRT; 0.19, 0.65 and 0.24 × 10−1 in IMXT; 0.04, 0.74 and 0.19 × 10−1 in SFO-PBT; and 0.06, 0.66 and 0.15 × 10−1 in ro-IMPT, respectively. Compared with 3D-CRT and IMXT plans, the ro-IMPT plan demonstrated significant reduction in acute H-T and late GI-T. The risk of acute GI-T in ro-IMPT plan is equivalent with IMXT plan. The ro-IMPT plan demonstrated potential clinical benefits for reducing the risk of acute H-T and late GI-T in the treatment of gynecologic malignances by reducing the dose to the bone marrow and bowel bag while maintaining adequate dose coverage to the CTV. Our results indicated that ro-IMPT may reduce acute H-T and late GI-T risk with potentially improving outcomes for postoperative gynecologic-malignancy patients with concurrent chemotherapy.