Dosimetric Comparison of Proton Therapy Plans for Breast Cancer between Eclipse and Curaproton
Abstract
Purpose
Proton therapy for breast cancer presents unique dosimetric challenges due to frequent use of range shifters and potential proton penetration into lungs. The study aims to compare dosimetric results between a novel proton treatment planning system (TPS) with an established one, and develop a hybrid workflow that integrates the new TPS calculated plan into our existing TPS and beam delivery platform for improved planning quality and efficiency.
Methods
CuraProton(V1.0，Raynaissance Technology Co., Ltd) was beam-modeled for Varian ProBeam system using identical measured beam data as Eclipse. 11 breast cancer cases were planned with both Eclipse and CuraProton V1.0. Plans created by CuraProton V1.0 were exported to Eclipse for final dose calculation and clinical beam delivery. Dose coverage for CTV, OAR doses, and planning time were compared between plans generated by the two systems.
Results
CuraProton-optimized plans demonstrated comparable target coverage and robustness, with superior sparing for most OARs compared to Eclipse-optimized plans. The ipsilateral lung V5 was reduced from 28.84% ± 11.23% to 16.50% ± 7.11%, and V20 decreased from 8.20%±6.19% to 3.86%±2.96%(both p<0.01); heart Dmean decreased from 33.89±43cGy to 13.02 ± 22.93cGy(p<0.01); esophagus D0.1cc decreased from 2376.92±1583.36cGy to 2114.22 ± 1484.4cGy(p<0.02). No statistically significant difference was observed in skin D0.1cc between the two systems (p = 0.898).On average, the time for treatment planning per case using CuraProton was approximately 30% less than Eclipse. To date, over 20 patients have been successfully treated using the hybrid workflow.
Conclusion
The CuraProton–Eclipse hybrid workflow enables accurate MC-guided optimization and efficient clinical delivery within existing proton therapy infrastructures. For breast cancer proton therapy, this approach provides substantial improvements in lung and heart sparing, reduced treatment planning time, while maintain similar target coverage, and skin dose, representing a practical pathway to translate advanced TPS capabilities into routine clinical practice.