Keywords:
Breast, Oncology, Digital radiography, Radiation therapy / Oncology, Radiotherapy techniques
Authors:
R. Estoesta, D. Naehrig, L. Attwood, E. Claridge-Mackonis, D. Martin, M. Pham, J. Toohey, S. Carroll; Sydney/AU
DOI:
10.1594/ranzcr2015/R-0081
Purpose
Radiotherapy for left-sided breast cancer can result in significant dose to cardiac structures (heart and left anterior descending artery (LAD)).
Current literature suggests that there is a progressive relationship between the radiation dose and the risk of cardiac toxicities [1-4].
The DIBH technique has been used to minimize the dose to the heart and the LAD during radiotherapy for cancer of the left breast [5-6].
DIBH requires the patient to hold their breath whilst the radiotherapy treatment is delivered and this can be accomplished through various methods.
The Varian RPM system has been shown to significantly reduce heart and LAD doses compared to FB radiotherapy [6] and similarly DIBH with active breathing coordinator (ABC device) significantly reduces heart dose [5,
7].
The equipment required to implement these methods are quite costly but the HeartSpare study and Jensen et al propose a low cost alternative in vDIBH [8-9].
This study compares the dosimetry and positional reproducibility of a vDIBH technique with the standard FB technique at our institute.