Evaluating the four-dimensional cone beam computed tomography with varying gantry rotation speed

Objective: The purpose of this work was to evaluate the four-dimensional cone beam CT (4DCBCT) imaging with different gantry rotation speed. Methods: All the 4DCBCT image acquisitions were carried out in Elekta XVI Symmetry (TM) system (Elekta AB, Stockholm, Sweden). A dynamic thorax phantom with tumour mimicking inserts of diameter 1, 2 and 3 cm was programmed to simulate the respiratory motion (4 s) of the target. 4DCBCT images were acquired with different gantry rotation speeds (36 degrees, 50 degrees, 75 degrees, 100 degrees, 150 degrees and 200 degrees min(-1)). Owing to the technical limitation of 4DCBCT system, average cone beam CT (CBCT) images derived from the 10 phases of 4DCBCT were used for the internal target volume (ITV) contouring. ITVs obtained from average CBCT were compared with the four-dimensional CT (4DCT). In addition, the image quality of 4DCBCT was also evaluated for various gantry rotation speeds using Catphan (R) 600 (The Phantom Laboratory Inc., Salem, NY). Results: Compared to 4DCT, the average CBCT underestimated the ITV. The ITV deviation increased with increasing gantry speed (210.8% vs 217.8% for 36 degrees and 200 degrees min(-1) in 3-cm target) and decreasing target size (217.8% vs 226.8% for target diameter 3 and 1 cm in 200 degrees min(-1)). Similarly, the image quality indicators such as spatial resolution, contrast-to-noise ratio and uniformity also degraded with increasing gantry rotation speed. Conclusion: The impact of gantry rotation speed has to be considered when using 4DCBCT for ITV definition. The phantom study demonstrated that 4DCBCT with slow gantry rotation showed better image quality and less ITV deviation. Advances in knowledge: Usually, the gantry rotation period of Elekta 4DCBCT system is kept constant at 4min (50 degrees min(-1)) for acquisition, and any attempt of decreasing/increasing the acquisition duration requires careful investigation. In this study, the 4DCBCT images with different gantry rotation speed were evaluated.