Introduction: Prostate cancer is the most common male cancer in the world. One of the treatment methods for prostate cancer is radiation therapy. When it comes to radiation of prostate cancer, we can irradiate only the prostate or also the pelvic lymph nodes and seminal vesicles. The prostate is a very mobile organ, due to physiological factors such as bladder and rectal filling, muscle contractions, and respiration. Prostate displacement can occur during one fraction treatment, called an intrafraction movement, as well as between daily irradiations, called an interfraction movement. In order to monitor intrafraction movements, the doctor inserts three golden markers in the prostate before radiation, the position of which we track before and during irradiation. For that purpose, we use the Auto Beam Hold (ABH) function, which compares the position of the marker according to the reference position, and in the case, they fall out of the tolerance position, the irradiation stops. The radiation is most often performed using the Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy (VMAT) radiation technique. Purpose: The purpose of our diploma work is to determine the need for an additional image verification with the On-Board Imager (OBI) system using the ABH function when irradiating prostate cancer, with inserted fiducial markers, due to the movement of the prostate during irradiation. We figure that out by reviewing all necessary additional imaging daily and displaying the magnitude of the displacements in lateral, longitudinal, and vertical directions. Methods: We have used the descriptive method and statistical analysis. We have compared translation movements of the prostate relating to fractions and the field of irradiation. The study includes data from 40 patients who were irradiated radically for prostate cancer and 20 patients who were irradiated for prostate cancer including the pelvic lymphatic nodes. All of the patients had gold markers inserted into the prostate and were irradiated with the VMAT technique on the Varian, True Beam linear accelerator at Onkološki inštitut Ljubljana. Results: From obtained results and statistic analysis we found out, that in prostate cancer irradiation the biggest displacement occurs in the longitudinal, superior direction (1,64 mm). We also found out the number of fractions impacts the number of intrafraction movements, when irradiating prostate cancer including lymphatic nodes the higher the number of fractions, the higher the number of movements. Discussion and conclusion: To conclude the biggest movements occurs in a longitudinal, superior direction, which can be caused by a variety of causes. Movements can be affected by non-relaxation of the patient and pelvic muscles during irradiation, bladder and rectal filling, and a number of radiation fractions. We can also identify the need for additional verifications with ABH function, which is crucial for achieving good treatment results, due to all prostate movements.
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