Dosimetric comparison of different IMRT vs VMAT planning techniques in the treatment of peripheral brain tumors.

Introduction This study aims to investigate and compare different IMRT and VMAT treatment planning techniques in peripheral brain tumors. Materials and Methods A total of 15 previously treated cases of peripheral brain tumors were selected and replanned with different techniques using a prescribed dose of 54 Gy in 30 fractions. Five different techniques: 5-field IMRT, 7-field IMRT, 9-field IMRT, 1-Half Arc VMAT, and 2-Half Arc VMAT, were systematically assessed. Evaluation was conducted based on dose-volume Histogram (DVH) metrics for both planning target volumes (PTVs) and organs at risk (OARs). Key parameters analyzed included the mean and maximum doses (Dmean and Dmax), monitor units (MUs), number of segments, treatment delivery time, as well as conformity (CI) index and homogeneity index (HI). All quantitative data were subjected to statistical analysis using SPSS version 29, applying one-way ANOVA and appropriate post hoc tests to compare outcomes across techniques. Results Among all evaluated techniques, 9F IMRT provided the highest mean PTV coverage (D95 = 53.9±0.34 Gy; p