Intraoperative ultrasound-fluoroscopy fusion can enhance prostate brachytherapy quality.

PURPOSE: To evaluate a transrectal ultrasound (TRUS)-fluoroscopy fusion-based intraoperative dosimetry system. METHOD AND MATERIALS: Twenty-five patients were treated for prostate cancer with Pd-103 implantation. After the execution of the treatment plan, two sets of TRUS images were collected using the longitudinal and axial transducers of a biplanar probe. Then, three fluoroscopic images were acquired at 0, -15 and +15 degrees . The three-dimensional locations of all implanted seeds were reconstructed from fluoroscopic images. A subset of the implanted seeds was manually identified in TRUS images and used as fiducial markers to perform TRUS-fluoroscopy fusion. To improve the implant quality, additional seeds were placed if adverse isodose patterns were identified during visual inspection. If additional seeds were placed, intraoperative dosimetry was repeated. Day 0 computed tomography-based dosimetry was compared with final intraoperative dosimetry to validate dosimetry achieved in the implant suite.
RESULTS: An average of additional 4.0 seeds was implanted in 16 patients after initial intraoperative dose evaluation. Based on TRUS-fluoroscopy fusion-based dosimetry, the V100 improved from 86% to 93% (p = 0.005), whereas D90 increased from 94% to 109% (p = 0.011) with the guided additional seed implantation. No statistical difference was observed in V200 and V300 values. V100 and D90 values were 95 +/- 4% and 120 +/- 24%, respectively, based on the final intraoperative dosimetry evaluation, compared with 95 +/- 4% and 122 +/- 24%, respectively, based on Day 0 computed tomography-based dosimetry.
CONCLUSIONS: Implantation of extra seeds based on TRUS-fluoroscopy fusion-based intraoperative dosimetry can improve the final V100 and D90 values with minimal increase in V200 and V300 values.