Objective To investigate the setup errors of super chest segment of esophageal cancer patients before radiotherapy delivery by KV cone beam CT,and evaluate the margin from CTV to PTV.Methods From 2010 to 2012,13 patients with super chest segment of esophageal cancer whose IMRT planning CT images were included in this study.Delineate target on the CT images of treatment planning and enlarge the margin of CTV to form ITV,then enlarge the margin of ITV gradually 10 times by 1 mm each time to form varied PTV,and create the plan according to the size of the PTV,simulate setup errors in the new plan to obtain the simulation of the actual exposure curve and find a suitable PTV to assure 95％ ITV volume as ever to approach the prescription dose,obtained the outside enlarge distance of CTV → PTV.Results The maximum setup errors in the direction of the anterior and posterior positioning was (3.42 ±2.19) mm.The margin of ITV→PTV is 5 mm which was figured out by PTN enlarging method.Compared to the original plan that under the condition of draw up the radiotherapy plan that based on the method of PTV enlarging obtained the CTV→PTV and simulate the actual dose distribution according to the setup errors:total lung V5,spinal cord D1cm3,increased by about 0.87％,4.95 Gy,heart V40,PTV D95,PTV V100,ITV D95,ITV V100 were reduced about 0.62％,4.95 Gy,8.38％,1.84 Gy,1.87％,all of them have statistically difference.Conclusions Range of external expansion of the left to right,superior to inferior and anterior to posterior is 7 mm,8 mm and 7 mm respectively,according to the method of PTV enlarging obtained the margin of CTV→PTV of super chest segment of esophageal cancer patients.

Objective To study the methods of matching kilovolt CBCT image with planning CT scan. Methods A total of 121 CBCT scans were matched with planning CT scan using a manual and four automatic match methods by four observers in the offline. In the manual match, the live contour was used as a surrogate for image registration. Four automatic match methods, including routine soft?tissue match, routine bone match, automatic liver match and vertebral body match, were performed using image registration sofeware. First, the stability of the sofeware was tested. Then, the reproducibility of the same automatic match method was evaluated by comparing different observers’ match results. After the manual match by four observers, the mean of the match results was used as a standard to compare with others. The differerces was test by McNemar method. Results In the uniform match factors, automatic match result would not change. The reproducibility of routine soft?tissue and bone match are best, automatic vertebral body match is better than automatic liver match. Howerver, the automatic liver match result is the most similar to manual match, the percentages of match result have an absolute error no more than 3 mm in left?right, superior?inferior and anterior?posterior directions are 84?? 3%, 77?? 7% and 92?? 6%. Conclusions Automatic liver match can be used in image?guided radiotherapy for liver cancer, however, it should be performed by experienced oncologist and technologist together in each fraction, after that, the matching result should be adjusted carefully according to live contour.