In the era of intensity-modulated radiation therapy, image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT) appears crucial to control dose delivery and to promote dose escalation while allowing healthy tissue sparing. The place of IGRT following radical prostatectomy is poorly described in the literature. This review aims to highlight some key points on the different IGRT techniques applicable to prostatic bed radi...

BACKGROUND Radiotherapy technology is expanding rapidly. Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy (VMAT) technologies such as RapidArc® (RA) may be a more efficient way of delivering intensity-modulated radiotherapy-like (IM) treatments. This study is an audit of the RA experience in an Australian department with a planning and economic comparison to IM. METHODS 30 consecutive prostate cancer patient...

The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of CTVision in interfractional setup errors during intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) in 12 nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients. The trend of setup errors as a function of time during a fractionated radiotherapy course was investigated, and the influence of reconstructive thickness on image reconstruction for setup errors wa...

Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is an extremely difficult disease to treat. This pilot study investigates the feasibility of using volumetric-modulated arc therapy (VMAT) for malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM), and compares VMAT to static field intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) for five patients. To identify the best treatment technique for MPM, in five patients, we made a represen...

We have automated the determination of the placement location of the dosimetry ion chamber within intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) fields, as part of streamlining the entire IMRT quality assurance process. This paper describes the mathematical image-processing techniques to arrive at the appropriate measurement locations within the planar dose maps of the IMRT fields. A specific spot wit...

Radiotherapy is one of the main ways head and neck cancers are treated; radiation is used to kill cancerous cells and prevent their recurrence. Complex treatment planning is required to ensure that enough radiation is given to the tumour, and little to other sensitive structures (known as organs at risk) such as the eyes and nerves which might otherwise be damaged. This is especially difficult ...

PURPOSE Using a retrospective analysis of treatment plans submitted from multiple institutions accruing patients to the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) 0236 non-small-cell stereotactic body radiotherapy protocol, the present study determined the dose prescription and critical structure constraints for future stereotactic body radiotherapy lung protocols that mandate density-corrected do...

Background: The commissioning accuracy of Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy (VMAT) need to be evaluated.Objective: To test and evaluate commissioning accuracy of VMAT based on the TG 119 protocols at local institution. Material and Methods: The phantom, structure sets, VMAT and IMRT beam parameter setup, dose prescriptions and planning objectives were following TG 119 guidelines to c...