In the Netherlands, about 2,300 people per year are diagnosed with a malignant tumor in the head and neck region. About 450 of them are referred to the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre. Most of them undergo radiotherapy, either as a sole treatment, or in combination with surgery or chemotherapy. As part of the tailored radiation therapy most patients will be treated with Intensity Mod...

INTRODUCTION Inverse-planned intensity modulated radiation therapy (IP-IMRT) has potential benefits over other techniques for tangential intact breast radiotherapy. Possible benefits include increased homogeneity, faster planning time, less inter-planner variability and lower doses to organs at risk (OAR). We therefore conducted a pilot study of previously treated intact breast patients to comp...

A methodology for the dosimetric verification of micro-multileaf collimator MMLC) based intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) plans intended for stereotactic applications is described. The procedure is similar to that of conventional IMRT patient-specific quality assurance with some notable exceptions. Relative dosimetry measurements are performed with radiographic film, a commercial fil...

During a course of fractionated radiation therapy and between the fractions the tissues of the human body may move relative to some reference location in which the radiation therapy was planned. This has been known for over a century and simple 'coping mechanisms' (margins) have been used to approximately compensate. Since the introduction of highly accurate conformal radiation therapy and inte...