Tumor motion plays a key role in the safe delivery of Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy (SBRT) for pancreatic cancer. The purpose of this study was to use tumor motion data measured in patients to establish limits on motion magnitude for safe delivery of pancreatic SBRT. Using 91 sets of pancreatic tumor motion data measured in patients, we calculated motion-convolved dose for 25 pancreatic cancer patients, and established the maximum amount of motion allowable while satisfying error thresholds on key dose metrics. In our patient cohort, the mean [min-max] allowable motion for 33/40/50 Gy to the PTV was 11.9 [6.3-22.4], 10.4 [5.2-19.1] and 9.0 [4.2-16.0] mm, respectively. Maximum allowable motion decreased as dose was escalated, and was smaller in patients with larger tumors. The effects of motion on pancreatic SBRT are highly variable between patients and there is potential to allow more motion in certain patients, even in dose-escalated scenarios. In our dataset, a conservative limit of 6.3 mm would ensure safe treatment of all patients treated to 33 Gy in 5 fractions.
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