The Impact of Optic Nerve Movement on Intracranial Radiation Treatment

Kun Qing, Ke Nie*, Bo Liu, Xue Feng, James R. Stone, Taoran Cui, Yin Zhang, Jiahua Zhu, Quan Chen, Xiao Wang, Li Zhao, Shreel Parikh, John P. Mugler, Sung Kim, Joseph Weiner, Ning Yue, Anupama Chundury*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

Purpose: In radiotherapy, high radiation exposure to optic nerve (ON) can cause optic neuropathy or vision loss. In this study, we evaluated the pattern and extent of the ON movement using MRI, and investigated the potential dosimetric effect of this movement on radiotherapy. Methods: MRI was performed in multiple planes in 5 human subjects without optic pathway abnormalities to determine optic nerve motion in different scenarios. The subjects were requested to gaze toward five directions during MRI acquisitions, including neutral (straight forward), left/right (horizontal movement), and up/down (vertical movement). Subsequently, the measured displacement was applied to patients with peri-optic tumors to evaluate the potential dosimetric effect of this motion. Results: The motion of ON followed a nearly conical shape. By average, the anterior end of ONs moved with 10.8 ± 2.2 mm horizontally and 9.3 ± 0.8 mm vertically, while posterior end has negligible displacement. For patients who underwent stereotactic radiotherapy to a peri-optic tumors, the movement of ON in this measured range introduced non-negligible dosimetric effect. Conclusion: The range of motion of the anterior portions of the optic nerves is on the order of centimeters, which may need to be considered with extra attention during radiation therapy in treating peri-optic lesions.

Original languageEnglish
Article number803329
JournalFrontiers in Oncology
Volume12
DOIs
StatePublished - 24 Feb 2022
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • MRI
  • optical nerve
  • radiation therapy
  • radiation-induced optic neuropathy
  • stereotactic radiodiotherapy

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'The Impact of Optic Nerve Movement on Intracranial Radiation Treatment'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this