Clinical and radiobiological advantages of single-dose stereotactic light-ion radiation therapy for large intracranial arteriovenous malformations. Technical note
Andisheh, Bahram (Creator), Brahme, Anders (Creator), Bitaraf, Mohammad Ali (Creator), Mavroidis, Panayiotis (Creator), Lind, Bengt K (Creator)
OBJECT: Radiation treatment of large arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) remains difficult and not very effective, even though seemingly promising methods such as staged volume treatments have been proposed by some radiation treatment centers. In symptomatic patients harboring large intracranial AVMs not amenable to embolization or resection, single-session high-dose stereotactic radiation therapy is a viable option, and the special characteristics of high-ionization-density light-ion beams offer several treatment advantages over photon and proton beams. These advantages include a more favorable depth-dose distribution in tissue, an almost negligible lateral scatter of the beam, a sharper penumbra, a steep dose falloff beyond the Bragg peak, and a higher probability of vascular response due to high ionization density and associated induction of endothelial cell proliferation and/or apoptosis. Carbon ions were recently shown to be an effective treatment for skull-base tumors. Bearing that in mind, the authors postulate that the unique physical and biological characteristics of light-ion beams should convey considerable clinical advantages in the treatment of large AVMs. In the present meta-analysis the authors present a comparison between light-ion beam therapy and more conventional modalities of radiation treatment with respect to these lesions. METHODS: Dose-volume histograms and data on peripheral radiation doses for treatment of large AVMs were collected from various radiation treatment centers. Dose-response parameters were then derived by applying a maximum likelihood fitting of a binomial model to these data. The present binomial model was needed because the effective number of crucial blood vessels in AVMs (the number of vessels that must be obliterated to effect a cure, such as large fistulous nidus vessels) is low, making the Poisson model less suitable. In this study the authors also focused on radiobiological differences between various radiation treatment
Downloadable Archival Material, English, 2009
Fysikum Medicinsk strålningsfysik (tills m KI), 2009