Clinical feasibility of a commercially available MRI-only method for radiotherapy treatment planning of the brain

Background: Advancements in deep-learning based synthetic computed tomography (sCT) image conversion methods have enabled the development of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-only based radiotherapy treatment planning (RTP) of the brain. Purpose: This study evaluates the clinical feasibility of a commercial, deep-learning based MRI-only RTP method with respect to dose calculation and patient positioning verification performance in RTP of the brain. Methods: Clinical validation of dose calculation accuracy was performed by a retrospective evaluation for 25 glioma and 25 brain metastasis patients. Dosimetric and image quality of the studied MRI-only RTP method was evaluated by a direct comparison of the sCT-based and computed tomography (CT)-based external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) images and treatment plans. Patient positioning verification accuracy of sCT images was evaluated retrospectively for 10 glioma and 10 brain metastasis patients based on clinical cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) imaging. Results: An average mean dose difference of D_mean = 0.1% for planning target volume (PTV) and 0.6% for normal tissue (NT) structures were obtained for glioma patients. Respective results for brain metastasis patients were D_mean = 0.5% for PTVs and D_mean=1.0% for NTs. Global three-dimensional (3D) gamma pass rates using 2%/2 mm dose difference and distance-to-agreement (DTA) criterion were 98.0% for the glioma subgroup, and 95.2% for the brain metastasis subgroup using 1%/1 mm criterion. Mean distance differences of <1.0 mm were observed in all Cartesian directions between CT-based and sCT-based CBCT patient positioning in both subgroups. Conclusions: In terms of dose calculation and patient positioning accuracy, the studied MRI-only method demonstrated its clinical feasibility for RTP of the brain. The results encourage the use of the studied method as part of a routine clinical workflow.