To individualize the planning margins used for treatment, we will assess the impact of the different uncertainties on patient-specific planning margins. We determine the dosimetric uncertainties for patients during planning and delivery through the daily adaptive process. In so doing, we will determine the relationship between the dose distributions and the associated treatment outcomes.~To perform retrospective clinical studies using patient data, we determine the relationship between dosimetry from plans developed using the optimized patient-specific margins (plans from (1) that are robust to uncertainties) and retrospective, clinical outcomes. This data will be used to inform daily adaptation and plan quality criteria for a prospective clinical protocol.~To develop (with our clinical collaborators) a first-of-kind study to measure the efficacy of daily adaptive treatment with individualized planning margins, using clinical and quality of life (patient reported) outcomes, and to compare these against the conventional treatment approach, where a single treatment plan with population-based treatment margins is utilized for all treatment fractions.
Daily adaptive radiotherapy with individualized planning margins for thoracic and pelvic cancer patients will increase the potential of reducing dose to OARs, thereby reducing treatment-related toxicities and ultimately providing these patients with a better quality of life. Thus, the overarching objective of this work is to develop a CBCT-guided adaptive workflow and to measure the benefits to patients of the adaptive treatment paradigm utilizing patient reported outcomes in a first-of-kind study.