The purpose of this study was to introduce a three-field monoisocentric inverse treatment planning method without half-beam blocks for breast cancer radiation treatments. Three-field monoisocentric breast treatment planning with half-beam blocks limits the tangential field length to 20 cm. A dual-isocenter approach accommodates patients with larger breasts, but prolongs treatment time and may i...

This discussion paper will explore the impact of using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) in the treatment of cervical cancer with brachytherapy. It is written from the perspective of current departmental practice in the UK and aims to highlight the issues associated with using MRI as a tool for image guided brachytherapy planning. To support the discussion, a literature review was undertaken foc...

The acquisition of radiotherapy planning scans on positron emission tomography (PET)-CT scanners requires the involvement of radiotherapy radiographers. This study assessed the radiation dose received by these radiographers during this process. Radiotherapy planning (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose ((18)F-FDG) PET-CT scans were acquired for 28 non-small cell lung cancer patients. In order to minimise t...

Definitive treatment for cervical cancer most often consists of fractionated external beam radiotherapy combined with multi-fraction intracavitary brachytherapy. CT imaging in gynaecological brachytherapy treatment planning has been widely used in the past decade. With the advantages of image-based treatment planning and the commercial treatment planning software tools available, it is possible...

Background: Inclusion of inhomogeneity corrections in intensity modulated small fields always makes conformal irradiation of lung tumor very complicated in accurate dose delivery.Objective: In the present study, the performance of five algorithms via Monte Carlo, Pencil Beam, Convolution, Fast Superposition and Superposition were evaluated in lung cancer Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy plannin...

Radiobiological models are essential components of modern radiotherapy. They are increasingly applied to optimize and evaluate the quality of different treatment planning modalities. They are frequently used in designing new radiotherapy clinical trials by estimating the expected therapeutic ratio of new protocols. In radiobiology, the therapeutic ratio is estimated from the expected gain in tu...

Improvements in imaging technology are impacting on every stage of the radiotherapy treatment process. Fundamental to this is the move towards computed tomography (CT) simulation as the basis of all radiotherapy planning. Whilst for many treatments, the definition of three-dimensional (3D) tumour volumes is necessary, for geometrically simple treatments virtual simulation may be more speedily p...

Introduction: Computerized treatment planning is a rapidly evolving modality that depends on hardware and software efficiency. Despite ICRU recommendations suggesting 5% deviation in dose delivery the overall uncertainty shall be less than 3.5% as suggested by B.J. Minjnheer. J. In house spreadsheets are developed by the medical physicists to cross-verify the dose calculated by the Treatment Pl...

Introduction: The accuracy of the patient setup and tumor location are major factors that determine the efficacy of radiotherapy treatment planning. In the prostate radiotherapy, reproducibility of the prostate location for each treatment fraction is problematic owing to varying filling of the rectum and bladder. According to this, the aim of this study was to measure the inte...

BACKGROUND Locoregional hyperthermia combined with radiotherapy significantly improves locoregional control and overall survival for cervical tumors compared to radiotherapy alone. In this study biological modelling is applied to quantify the effect of radiosensitization for three cervical cancer patients to evaluate the improvement in equivalent dose for the combination treatment with radiothe...