Temporal lobe reactions after carbon ion radiation therapy: comparison of relative biological effectiveness-weighted tolerance doses predicted by local effect models I and IV.

To compare the relative biological effectiveness (RBE)-weighted tolerance doses for temporal lobe reactions after carbon ion radiation therapy using 2 different versions of the local effect model (LEM I vs LEM IV) for the same patient collective under identical conditions. In a previous study, 59 patients were investigated, of whom 10 experienced temporal lobe reactions (TLR) after carbon ion radiation therapy for low-grade skull-base chordoma and chondrosarcoma at Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung (GSI) in Darmstadt, Germany in 2002 and 2003. TLR were detected as visible contrast enhancements on T1-weighted MRI images within a median follow-up time of 2.5 years. Although the derived RBE-weighted temporal lobe doses were based on the clinically applied LEM I, we have now recalculated the RBE-weighted dose distributions using LEM IV and derived dose-response curves with Dmax,V-1 cm³ (the RBE-weighted maximum dose in the remaining temporal lobe volume, excluding the volume of 1 cm³ with the highest dose) as an independent dosimetric variable. The resulting RBE-weighted tolerance doses were compared with those of the previous study to assess the clinical impact of LEM IV relative to LEM I. The dose-response curve of LEM IV is shifted toward higher values compared to that of LEM I. The RBE-weighted tolerance dose for a 5% complication probability (TD5) increases from 68.8 ± 3.3 to 78.3 ± 4.3 Gy (RBE) for LEM IV as compared to LEM I. LEM IV predicts a clinically significant increase of the RBE-weighted tolerance doses for the temporal lobe as compared to the currently applied LEM I. The limited available photon data do not allow a final conclusion as to whether RBE predictions of LEM I or LEM IV better fit better clinical experience in photon therapy. The decision about a future clinical application of LEM IV therefore requires additional analysis of temporal lobe reactions in a comparable photon-treated collective using the same dosimetric variable as in the present study.