Publication Date
2018
Journal Title
J Appl Clin Med Phys
Abstract
© 2018 The Authors. Journal of Applied Clinical Medical Physics published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of American Association of Physicists in Medicine. Several nomograms exist for ordering palladium-103 seeds for permanent prostate seed implants (PSI). Excess seeds from PSIs pose additional radiation safety risks and increase the cost of care. This study compared five nomograms to clinical data from dynamic modified-peripheral intraoperative PSI to determine (a) the cause of excess seeds and (b) the optimal nomogram for our institution. Pre- and intraoperative patient data were collected for monotherapy PSIs and compiled into a clinical database. All patients were prescribed 125 Gy with dose coverage of D90% = 100% to the planning target volume (PTV) using103Pd seeds with mean air-kerma strength ((Formula presented.)) of 2 U. Seeds were ordered based upon an in-house nomogram as a function of preoperative prostate volume and prescription dose. Preoperative prostate volume was assessed with transrectal ultrasound. If any of the following four conditions were not met: (a) preoperative volume = intraoperative volume, (b) D90% = 100%, (c) (Formula presented.), and (d) seed ordering matched the in-house nomogram, then a normalization factor was applied to the number of seeds used intraoperatively to meet all four conditions. Four published nomograms, an in-house nomogram, and the normalized number of implanted seeds for each patient were plotted against intraoperative prostate volume. Of the 226 patients, 223 had excess seeds at the completion of their PSI. On average, 25.7 ± 9.9% of ordered seeds were not implanted. Excess seeds were separated into two categories, accounted-for excess, determined by the four normalization factors, and residual excess, assumed to be due to overordering. The upper 99.9% CI linear fit of the normalized clinical data plus a 5% “cushion” may provide a more reasonable nomogram for103Pd seed ordering for our institution. Nomograms customized for individual institutions may reduce seed waste, thereby reducing radiation safety risks and increasing the value of prostate brachytherapy.
Volume Number
19
Issue Number
5
Pages
383 - 388
Document Type
Article
Status
Faculty, Northwell Resident
Facility
School of Medicine; Northwell Health
Primary Department
Radiation Medicine
PMID
DOI
10.1002/acm2.12404