Impact of field number and beam angle on functional image-guided lung cancer radiotherapy planning.

To investigate the effect of beam angles and field number on functionally-guided intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) normal lung avoidance treatment plans that incorporate hyperpolarised helium-3 magnetic resonance imaging (He MRI) ventilation data. Eight non-small cell lung cancer patients had pre-treatment He MRI that was registered to inspiration breath-hold radiotherapy planning computed tomography. IMRT plans that minimised the volume of total lung receiving  ⩾20 Gy (V) were compared with plans that minimised He MRI defined functional lung receiving  ⩾20 Gy (fV). Coplanar IMRT plans using 5-field manually optimised beam angles and 9-field equidistant plans were also evaluated. For each pair of plans, the Wilcoxon signed ranks test was used to compare fV and the percentage of planning target volume (PTV) receiving 90% of the prescription dose (PTV). Incorporation of He MRI led to median reductions in fV of 1.3% (range: 0.2-9.3%; p  =  0.04) and 0.2% (range: 0 to 4.1%; p  =  0.012) for 5- and 9-field arrangements, respectively. There was no clinically significant difference in target coverage. Functionally-guided IMRT plans incorporating hyperpolarised He MRI information can reduce the dose received by ventilated lung without comprising PTV coverage. The effect was greater for optimised beam angles rather than uniformly spaced fields.