Radiobiological analysis of the field in field technique in breast cancer radiotherapy treatments

Full text: In vivo dosimetry was performed in 6 unilateral breast cancer patients treated with external beam radiation therapy in order to evaluate the dose calculated by the radiotherapy treatment planning system (Xi O, ELEKTA). Results show a maximum difference of 0.473 Gy between the dose calculated by the treatment planning system and the dose measured in vivo using solid state detectors. Based on the DVHs statistics, tumor control probability (Tcp) was obtained using the Target-Poisson model, with the following Tcp parameters: α=0.288/Gy, α_spread= 0.13 and α/β=4.9 Gy. Tcp average obtained for the Clinical Tumor Volume (Ctv) is 35.1% and for Supra Clavicle Volume (Scv) is 35.345%. Finally using Lyman model Normal Tissue Complication Probability (Ntcp) was obtained for the following endpoints: contralateral breast fibrosis, lung radiation pneumonitis and heart pericarditis. Nonetheless the Ntcp values are not high; the improvement of the Tcp based on this plan makes Ntcp for lung radiation pneumonitis reach the 100% of probability in some cases. (Author)