METHODS
In the 17 patients, CT simulation and treatment was performed with an empty rectum and no ERB was
used (non-ERB group). ERB filled with 100-150 cc air into 15 patients was placed in the rectum and
identified with the ERB group. SBRT was performed to be delivered with volumetric modulated arc,
with 10 FFF photon beams, using a linear accelerator with a high definition MLC. Dosimetric parameters
for the rectum, bladder and penilbulb were compared between the two groups as a retrospective.
Independent samples t-tests were performed to examine the differences between the two groups.
RESULTS
The mean dose given to the rectum was lower in the ERB group than in the non-ERB group, and a statistically
significant dose reduction of 149.4 cGy per fraction was found in the ERB group (p<0.01). Similarly,
the mean dose given to the bladder was lower in the ERB group than in the non-ERB group, and a
statistically significant dose reduction of 178.8 cGy per fraction was found in the ERB group (p<0.01).
The mean dose of penilbulb was 373 cGy in the ERB group, while the mean dose of penilbulb was 1314
cGy in the non-ERB group. There was statistically significant differences between groups (p<0.01).
CONCLUSION
The use of high-volume ERB reduces rectum, bladder and penilbulb doses in prostate cancer patients
treated with linac-based SBRT.
Keywords: Endorectal balloon; organ at risk; prostate cancer; SBRT
Statistical Analysis
Descriptive statistics were defined for each dosimetric
parameter between the with-ERB group and the
without-ERB group. Dosimetric data were converted
to logarithmic (Log 10) to provide this necessary
distribution so that the differences between groups
could be calculated in independent sample t-tests.
Mean and standard deviation values obtained from
independent t-tests were founded and the differences
in the means value were shown as Δ for each parameter.
Kruskal-Wallis test was performed to compare
the averages of more than two groups. SPSS software
was used for statistically analyses (version 21.0, SPSS
Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). p<0.05 was accepted as statistically
significant.
The mean dose to the rectum was lower in the with-
ERB group than in the without-ERB group, and there
was found statistically significant dose reduction 149.4
cGy per fraction in the with-ERB group for mean rectal
dose (p<0.01). As expected, the maximum dose administered
to the rectum was higher in the with-ERB
group than in the without-ERB group and an increase
of 21.6 cGy per fraction was statistically significant
for the maximum rectal dose in the with-ERB group
(p=0.01). The average doses of rectum V%5, V%20,
V%40, V50%, V80%, V90%, and V100%; in the with-ERB Group were 30.2 Gy, 16.2 Gy, 511.3 Gy, 8.9 Gy, 2.4
Gy, 1.35 Gy, and 0.4 Gy compared with the without-
ERB group were 34.2 Gy, 25.1 Gy, 17.2 Gy, 14.1 Gy, 7.1
Gy, 5.1 Gy and 2.0 Gy respectively The dose administered
to the volumes of Rectum V%20, V%40, V%50,
V%80, V%90 and V%100 were statistically lower in the
with-ERB group compared to the without-ERB group
(p<0.01, p<0.01, p<0.01, p<0.01, p<0.01 and p<0.01
respectively). The mean dose to given to the rectum
was lower in the with-ERB group than in the without-
ERB group and there was found statistically significant
dose reduction 149.4 cGy per fraction in the with-ERB
group (p<0.01). However, there was no difference between
the groups in terms of V%5 (p=0.57). On the
other hand, a pattern of dose reduction was observed
between the with-ERB Group and the without-ERB
Group concerning the dose administered to the bladder.
The average doses of bladder V%5, V%20, V%40,
V50%, V80%, V90%, and V100%; in the with-ERB
Group were 25.3 Gy, 11.3 Gy, 5.5 Gy, 4.2Gy, 1.5 Gy, 0.9
Gy, and 0.4 Gy compared with the without-ERB group were 34.2 Gy, 25.1 Gy, 17.2 Gy, 14.1 Gy, 7.1 Gy, 5.1 Gy
and 2.0 Gy, respectively. The doses of the bladder in the
with-ERB group were significantly lower than in the
without-ERB group (p<0.01). Especially, the mean dose
to administer to the bladder was lower in the with-ERB
group than in the without-ERB group and there was
found statistically significant dose reduction 178.8 cGy
per fraction in the with-ERB group (p<0.01). However,
there was no statistically significant difference between
the groups in terms of the maximum dose of the bladder
(p=0.43). The comparisons of the dosimetric differences
between the groups are shown in Table
Concerning mean penile bulb dose, statistically
significantly a difference was found between groups
(p<0.01). The mean dose of the penile bulb was 373
cGy in the with-ERB group, while the mean dose of
the penile bulb was 1314 cGy in the without-ERB group. Concerning mean rectum doses of patients between
the low-risk group and the intermediate-risk
group, the difference between the groups was not statistically significant (p=0.60). The mean rectum dose
differences between subgroups are summarized in
Table
Peer-review: Externally peer-reviewed.
Conflict of Interest: The authors declared that they have no conflict interests.
Ethics Committee Approval: This study has been approved by the local ethics committee (2019/833).
Financial Support: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or notfor- profit sectors.
Authorship contributions: Concept - M.G.; Design - M.G.; Supervision - H.B., E.K.; Funding - None; Materials - K.Y., T.A.; Data collection and/or processing - H.B., E.K., O.O..; Data analysis and/or interpretation - M.G; Literature search - M.G., H.B., C.E., E.K., O.O.; Writing - M.G.; Critical review - O.O., C.E.