Radiation dose to the supraclavicular cavity for different field adjustments of post-irradiated mastectomized women

It was investigated by exact dose measurements in the supraclavicular fossa whether the skin reactions occasionally found in the median region of the supraclavicular fossa and in the adjoining regions of the neck of mastectomized women treated by conventional radiotherapy using four steady state fields are due to excessive amounts of radiation or to a special property of the skin at this point. X-ray dose measurements were performed by means of capacitor chambers. The highest X-ray doses are measured in the middle of the supraclavicular fossa as a result of direct supraclavicular field irradiation. The strong exposure of the skin as a result of this field setting is unavoidable and cannot be the cause of the skin reactions in the median region because the other areas of the skin are exposed even more strongly. A major fraction of the exposure of the skin in the supraclavicular fossa is contributed by the axillary field irradiation in which a non-uniformity of the angles is to be observed in repeated settings of the irradiation field, which has major consequences upon the skin of the supraclavicular fossa. It can be shown by intentional systematic variation of the angle of exposure that the radiation will be distributed most uniformly throughout the supraclavicular fossa at angles between 300 and 400 and, hence, that the exposure of the skin accordingly will not be concentrated upon a specific point. (orig./RF)