Impact of variation in the α/β of cervical cancer on predicted clinical outcomes

BACKGROUND: are functions of α/β and the accuracy of α/β value is essential. A single α/β value of 10 Gy has been used for cervical cancer in clinical practice. However, our previous study first found that cervical cancer has a broad range of α/β values across in vitro studies that follow a right-skewed log-normal distribution. If patient populations follow such a distribution, it may have potential impact on radiation therapy for cervical cancer. PURPOSE: associated with clinical outcome for cervix cancer patients treated with radiation therapy and how that variance could influence the determination of alternate fractionation schemes. METHODS: axis. Convolution curves of TCP and normal tissue complication probability (NTCP) were generated to determine the potential shift in optimal dose and probability of risk-free local control (RFLC). Theoretical treatment failure rates were generated to evaluate changes in rates of treatment outcomes. RESULTS: . CONCLUSION: The distribution of cervical cancer α/β values derived from experimental results produced significant changes in tumor control when applied to a reference TCP curve. TCP decreased with both the average and most probable α/β values. It is suggested that variance and heterogeneity in α/β be more explicitly incorporated to account for those patients that do deviate from the assumed constant value, especially in the case of evaluating different radiation schemes.