Postprostatectomy target-normal structure overlap volume differences using computed tomography and radioimmunoscintigraphy images for radiotherapy treatment planning.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyze regions of uptake in normal structures on postprostatectomy radioimmunoscintigraphy (RIS) images by evaluating differences in the overlap volumes of prostate fossa clinical target volume (CTV) and planning target volume (PTV) using correlative computed tomography (CT) images. Materials and Methods: The electronic records of 13 patients who received external beam radiotherapy postprostatectomy and who underwent a vessel-based RIS/CT registration were reviewed. For each patient, the RIS-defined CTV (CTV RIS ) was compared (in terms of the overlap volume with the surrounding bladder, rectum, pubic symphysis, and penile bulb) with the CT-defined CTV pre before this registration and also with CTV post (the final target volume used for treatment). Similar analyses were done for PTV RIS , PTV pre , and PTV post defined in each case to be the corresponding CTV + 1-cm margin. Results: CTV RIS overlapped significantly more with the bladder, rectum, and symphysis, but not with the penile bulb, than did either the CTV pre or CTV post . However, the corresponding PTV analyses revealed no significant differences between any of the overlap volumes of any of the PTVs with the bladder, rectum, and penile bulb, but did reveal a significant difference between the PTV RIS and PTV post overlap volumes with the symphysis compared with PTV pre overlap volumes with the symphysis. Conclusions: On RIS images, there appear to be areas of uptake in the bladder, rectum, and pubic symphysis but not the penile bulb; however, the dosimetric consequences of this uptake for radiation treatment planning are minimal on the bladder, rectum, and penile bulb, but require segmentation for dose reduction to the pubic symphysis.