Proton therapy vs. VMAT for prostate cancer: a treatment planning study

Purpose: The main objective of this study was to compare the dosimetric quality of volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) with that of proton therapy for high-risk prostate cancer. Patients and Materials: Twelve patients with high-risk prostate cancer previously treated with uniform scanning proton therapy (USPT) were included in this study. Proton planning was done using the XiO treatment planning system (TPS) with two 180 parallel-opposed lateral fields. The VMAT planning was done using the RapidArc technique with two arcs in the Eclipse TPS. The VMAT and proton plans were calculated using the anisotropic analytical algorithm and pencil-beam algorithm, respectively. The calculated VMAT and proton plans were then normalized so that at least 95% of the planning target volume (PTV) received the prescription dose. The dosimetric evaluation was performed by comparing the physical dose-volume parameters, which were obtained from the VMAT and proton plans. Results: The average difference in the PTV doses between the VMAT and proton plans was within 61%. On average, the proton plans produced a lower mean dose to the rectum (18.2 Gy (relative biological effectiveness [RBE]) vs. 40.0 Gy) and bladder (15.8 Gy (RBE) vs. 30.1 Gy), whereas the mean dose to the femoral heads was lower in the VMAT plans (28.3 Gy (RBE) vs. 19.3 Gy). For the rectum and bladder, the proton plans always produced lower (better) results in the lowand medium-dose regions, whereas the results were case-specific in the high-dose region. Conclusion: For the same target coverage, in comparison to the VMAT technique, the USPT is significantly better at sparing the rectum and bladder, especially in the lowand medium-dose regions, but results in a higher femoral head dose.