The impact of dose rate optimisation and robust optimisation on FLASH proton therapy treatment plan quality and dose rates
Dose rate optimised FLASH-PT plans were associated with significantly worse target dose coverage, whilst significantly improving dose rate coverages to organs at risk, compared to non-dose rate optimised plans. The use of dose rate optimisation should be used with caution as it may lead to degraded plan quality. Robust optimisation improved target coverage compared to margin-based plans, without compromising dose rate coverage. FLASH-PT plans struggle to achieve IMPT-equivalent D<sub>95%</sub> and is associated with non-significant increases in organ at risk doses compared to IMPT, regardless of TPSs and treatment planning techniques (margin and robust). Future work will focus on improving D<sub>95%</sub>, reducing organ at risk doses, and optimising MU/spot delivery to improve plan quality, while further increasing the dose rates.
Authors
- Nathalie Lövgren
- Erik Tranéus (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1850-7382)
- Kristoffer Petersson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0300-5790)
- Rasmus Nilsson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6750-4356)
Institutions
- University of Oxford (GB)
- Skåne University Hospital (SE)
- Science Oxford (GB)
- RaySearch Laboratories (Sweden) (SE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Frontiers in Oncology
- Published
- 2025-12-19
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3389/fonc.2025.1638319
- Primary Topic
- Radiation Therapy and Dosimetry
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- University of Oxford