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...

In inverse planning, the likelihood for the points in a target or sensitive structure to meet their dosimetric goals is generally heterogeneous and represents the a priori knowledge of the system once the patient and beam configuration are chosen. Because of this intrinsic heterogeneity, in some extreme cases, a region in a target may never meet the prescribed dose without seriously deteriorati...

When a brass compensator is set in a treatment beam, beam hardening may take place. This variation of the energy spectrum may affect the accuracy of dose calculation by a treatment planning system and the results of dose measurement of brass compensator intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT). In addition, when X-rays pass the compensator, scattered photons are generated within the compens...

The treatment delivery time of intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) with a multileaf collimator (MLC) is generally longer than that of conventional radiotherapy. In theory, removing the flattening filter from the treatment head may reduce the beam-on time by enhancing the output dose rate, and then reduce the treatment delivery time. And in practice, there is a possibility of delivering...

The purpose of this application note is to demonstrate the possibilities of the 2D-ARRAY seven29 from PTW in combination with the VeriSoft analysis software as a dosimetric verification tool of clinical IMRT fields. For this demonstration, the Varian IMRT system is used, which consists of the IMRT treatment planning system Eclipse Helios V7.2.24 and Varian Clinac accelerators, which are equippe...

A single calibration film method was evaluated for use with intensity-modulated radiation therapy film quality assurance measurements. The single-film method has the potential advantages of exposure simplicity, less media consumption, and improved processor quality control. Potential disadvantages include cross contamination of film exposure, implementation effort to document delivered dose, an...

BACKGROUND Research regarding the decision to adopt and implement technological innovations in radiation oncology is lacking. This is particularly problematic since these technologies are often complex and rapidly evolving, requiring ongoing revisiting of decisions regarding which technologies are the most appropriate to support. Variations in adoption and implementation decisions for new radia...

Intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) can sculpt the high-dose volume around the site of disease with hitherto unachievable precision. Conformal avoidance of normal tissues goes hand in hand with this. Inhomogeneous dose painting is possible. The technique has become a clinical reality and is likely to be the dominant approach this decade for improving the clinical practice of photon the...

Many modern radiotherapy centers now have image-guided intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IG-IMRT) tools available for clinical use, and the technique offers many options for patients requiring palliative radiotherapy. We describe a single-institution experience with IG-IMRT for short-course palliative radiotherapy, highlighting the unique situations in which the technique can be most effectivel...