Present state and issues in IORT Physics

Literature was reviewed to assess the physical aspects governing the present and emerging technologies used in intraoperative radiation therapy (IORT). Three major technologies were identified: treatment with electrons, treatment with external generators of kV X-rays and electronic brachytherapy. Although also used in IORT, literature on brachytherapy with radioactive sources is not systematically reviewed since an extensive own body of specialized literature and reviews exists in this field. A comparison with radioactive sources is made in the use of balloon catheters for partial breast irradiation where these are applied in almost an identical applicator technique as used with kV X-ray sources. The physical constraints of adaption of the dose distribution to the extended target in breast IORT are compared. Concerning further physical issues, the literature on radiation protection, commissioning, calibration, quality assurance (QA) and in-vivo dosimetry of the three technologies was reviewed. Several issues were found in the calibration and the use of dosimetry detectors and phantoms for low energy X-rays which require further investigation. The uncertainties in the different steps of dose determination were estimated, leading to an estimated total uncertainty of around 10-15% for IORT procedures. The dose inhomogeneity caused by the prescription of electrons at 90% and by the steep dose gradient of kV X-rays causes additional deviations from prescription dose which must be considered in the assessment of dose response in IORT. The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13014-016-0754-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.