Health-related quality of life of early-stage breast cancer patients after different radiotherapy regimens.

PURPOSE: To evaluate and compare health-related quality of life (HRQL) of women with early-stage breast cancer (BC) treated with different radiotherapy (RT) regimens. METHODS: Data were collected from five prospective cohorts of BC patients treated with breast-conserving surgery and different RT regimens: intraoperative RT (IORT, 1 × 23.3 Gy; n = 267), external beam accelerated partial breast irradiation (EB-APBI, 10 × 3.85 Gy; n = 206), hypofractionated whole breast irradiation(hypo-WBI, 16 × 2.67 Gy; n = 375), hypo-WBI + boost(hypo-WBI-B, 21-26 × 2.67 Gy; n = 189), and simultaneous WBI + boost(WBI-B, 28 × 2.3 Gy; n = 475). Women ≥ 60 years with invasive/in situ carcinoma ≤ 30 mm, cN0 and pN0-1a were included. Validated EORTC QLQ-C30/BR23 questionnaires were used to asses HRQL. Multivariable linear regression models adjusted for confounding (age, comorbidity, pT, locoregional treatment, systemic therapy) were used to compare the impact of the RT regimens on HRQL at 12 and 24 months. Differences in HRQL over time (3-24 months) were evaluated using linear mixed models. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in HRQL at 12 months between groups except for breast symptoms which were better after IORT and EB-APBI compared to hypo-WBI at 12 months (p < 0.001). Over time, breast symptoms, fatigue, global health status and role functioning were significantly better after IORT and EB-APBI than hypo-WBI. At 24 months, HRQL was comparable in all groups. CONCLUSION: In women with early-stage breast cancer, the radiotherapy regimen did not substantially influence long-term HRQL with the exception of breast symptoms. Breast symptoms are more common after WBI than after IORT or EB-APBI and improve slowly until no significant difference remains at 2 years posttreatment.

Single dose IOERT versus whole breast irradiation : Cosmetic results in breast-conserving therapy.

BACKGROUND: Scarce data are available about the cosmetic result of single dose intraoperative electron radiotherapy (IOERT) in breast-conserving radiotherapy. METHODS AND MATERIALS: We included 71 breast cancer patients. Breast-conserving surgery and sentinel node procedure had started almost 3 years earlier. Subsequently, 26 patients were treated with IOERT and 45 patients received postoperative whole breast irradiation (WBI). For both groups we determined seven dimensionless asymmetry features. We compared the subjectively and the objectively derived cosmetic scores with each other. RESULTS: For four asymmetry features we noted significantly smaller differences for patients treated with IOERT when compared to those treated with WBI: relative breast contour difference, relative breast area difference and relative breast overlap difference. After correcting for excision volume a significant difference was noticed also for relative lower breast contour. For the IOERT group the cosmetic scores "excellent or good" as determined by each patient and one physician were 88 and 96 %, respectively. When the overall cosmetic scores for patients treated with IOERT and WBI were compared to those of the objectively derived scores, there was a fair level of agreement. CONCLUSION: For patients treated with IOERT we noted less asymmetry and high rates of "good or excellent" subjectively derived cosmetic scores. The level of agreement between the subjectively and the objectively derived cosmetic scores was limited. Due to the small sample size and the design of the study no definitive conclusions can be drawn.

Whole breast proton irradiation for maximal reduction of heart dose in breast cancer patients.

PURPOSE: In left-sided breast cancer radiotherapy, tangential intensity modulated radiotherapy combined with breath-hold enables a dose reduction to the heart and left anterior descending (LAD) coronary artery. Aim of this study was to investigate the added value of intensity modulated proton therapy (IMPT) with regard to decreasing the radiation dose to these structures. METHODS: In this comparative planning study, four treatment plans were generated in 20 patients: an IMPT plan and a tangential IMRT plan, both with breath-hold and free-breathing. At least 97 % of the target volume had to be covered by at least 95 % of the prescribed dose in all cases. Specifically with respect to the heart, the LAD, and the target volumes, we analyzed the maximum doses, the mean doses, and the volumes receiving 5-30 Gy. RESULTS: As compared to IMRT, IMPT resulted in significant dose reductions to the heart and LAD-region even without breath-hold. In the majority of the IMPT cases, a reduction to almost zero to the heart and LAD-region was obtained. IMPT treatment plans yielded the lowest dose to the lungs. CONCLUSIONS: With IMPT the dose to the heart and LAD-region could be significantly decreased compared to tangential IMRT with breath-hold. The clinical relevance should be assessed individually based on the baseline risk of cardiac complications in combination with the dose to organs at risk. However, as IMPT for breast cancer is currently not widely available, IMPT should be reserved for patients remaining at high risk for major coronary events.

Intraoperative electron beam intercomparison of 6 sites using mailed thermoluminescence dosimetry: Absolute dose and energy.

PURPOSE: In 2018, the Netherlands Commission on Radiation Dosimetry subcommittee on IORT initiated a limited intercomparison of electron IORT (IOERT) in Belgium and The Netherlands. The participating institutions have enough variability in age, type of equipment, and in dose calibration protocols. METHODS: In this study, three types of IOERT-dedicated mobile accelerators were represented: Mobetron 2000, LIAC HWL and LIAC. Mobetron produces electron beams with energies of 6, 9 and 12 MeV, while LIAC HWL and LIAC can deliver 6, 8, 10 and 12 MeV electron beams. For all energies, the reference beam (10 cm diameter, 0° incidence) and 5 cm diameter beams were measured, as these smaller beams are used more frequently in clinic. The mailed TLD service from the Radiation Dosimetry Services (RDS, Houston, USA) has been used. Following RDS' standard procedures, each beam was irradiated to 300 cGy at dmax with TLDs around dmax and around depth of 50 % dose (R50). Absolute dose at 100 % and beam energy, expressed as R50, could be verified in this way. RESULTS: All absolute doses and energies under reference conditions were well within RDS-stated uncertainties: dose deviations were <5 % and deviations in R50 were <5 mm. For the small 5 cm beams, all results were also within acceptance levels except one absolute dose value. Deviations were not significantly dependent on manufacturer, energy, diameter and calibration protocol. CONCLUSIONS: All absolute dose values, except one of a non-reference beam, and all energy values were well within the measurement accuracy of RDS TLDs.

External validation of the lung-molGPA to predict survival in patients treated with stereotactic radiotherapy for brain metastases of non-small cell lung cancer.

BACKGROUND: In the era of personalized medicine, individualized prognostic models with tumor characteristics are needed to inform patients about survival. Before clinical use, external validation of such models by an independent group is needed. An updated version of the graded prognostic assessment (GPA) estimates survival in patients with brain metastases (BMs) of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This is the first external validation of the updated Lung-molGPA in patients treated with stereotactic radiotherapy (SRT) for one or more BMs. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients treated with SRT for BMs from NSCLC adenocarcinoma were retrospectively included. GPA score was calculated for each patient based on six prognostic factors including age, Karnofsky Performance Status, number of BMs, extracranial metastases, EGFR/ALK status, and PD-L1 expression. Kaplan-Meier analysis evaluated survival probability. Impact of individual prognostic factors on survival was assessed by univariate and multivariate analyses using the Cox proportional hazard model. Predictive performance was evaluated using discrimination (C-statistic) and calibration (Brier test). RESULTS: The cohort (n = 241) was divided into four prognostic groups. Overall median survival was 15 months. Predicted and observed median survival were similar between the original and validation cohorts, apart from the most favorable prognostic group. With adequate C-statistics and Brier scores, the Lung-molGPA provided accurate survival predictions. CONCLUSION: The Lung-molGPA accurately predicted survival in our European population, except for an overestimation of survival in the small most favorable prognostic group. This prognostic model was externally validated and is therefore useful for counseling of patients with BMs of NSCLC adenocarcinoma.

In vivodosimetry in cancer patients undergoing intraoperative radiation therapy.

In vivodosimetry (IVD) is an important tool in external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) to detect major errors by assessing differences between expected and delivered dose and to record the received dose by individual patients. Also, in intraoperative radiation therapy (IORT), IVD is highly relevant to register the delivered dose. This is especially relevant in low-risk breast cancer patients since a high dose of IORT is delivered in a single fraction. In contrast to EBRT, online treatment planning based on intraoperative imaging is only under development for IORT. Up to date, two commercial treatment planning systems proposed intraoperative ultrasound or in-room cone-beam CT for real-time IORT planning. This makes IVD even more important because of the possibility for real-time treatment adaptation. Here, we summarize recent developments and applications of IVD methods for IORT in clinical practice, highlighting important contributions and identifying specific challenges such as a treatment planning system for IORT. HDR brachytherapy as a delivery technique was not considered. We add IVD for ultrahigh dose rate (FLASH) radiotherapy that promises to improve the treatment efficacy, when compared to conventional radiotherapy by limiting the rate of toxicity while maintaining similar tumour control probabilities. To date, FLASH IORT is not yet in clinical use.

Development and evaluation of an automated EPTN-consensus based organ at risk atlas in the brain on MRI.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: During radiotherapy treatment planning, avoidance of organs at risk (OARs) is important. An international consensus-based delineation guideline was recently published with 34 OARs in the brain. We developed an MR-based OAR autosegmentation atlas and evaluated its performance compared to manual delineation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Anonymized cerebral T1-weighted MR scans (voxel size 0.9 × 0.9 × 0.9 mm3) were available. OARs were manually delineated according to international consensus. Fifty MR scans were used to develop the autosegmentation atlas in a commercially available treatment planning system (Raystation®). The performance of this atlas was tested on another 40 MR scans by automatically delineating 34 OARs, as defined by the 2018 EPTN consensus. Spatial overlap between manual and automated delineations was determined by calculating the Dice similarity coefficient (DSC). Two radiation oncologists determined the quality of each automatically delineated OAR. The time needed to delineate all OARs manually or to adjust automatically delineated OARs was determined. RESULTS: DSC was ≥ 0.75 in 31 (91 %) out of 34 automated OAR delineations. Delineations were rated by radiation oncologists as excellent or good in 29 (85 %) out 34 OAR delineations, while 4 were rated fair (12 %) and 1 was rated poor (3 %). Interobserver agreement between the radiation oncologists ranged from 77-100 % per OAR. The time to manually delineate all OARs was 88.5 minutes, while the time needed to adjust automatically delineated OARs was 15.8 minutes. CONCLUSION: Autosegmentation of OARs enables high-quality contouring within a limited time. Accurate OAR delineation helps to define OAR constraints to mitigate serious complications and helps with the development of NTCP models.

Accelerated Partial Breast Irradiation Using External Beam or Intraoperative Electron Radiation Therapy: 5-Year Oncological Outcomes of a Prospective Cohort Study.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the ipsilateral breast tumor recurrence (IBTR) after 2 accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI) techniques (intraoperative electron radiation therapy [IOERT] and external beam APBI [EB-APBI]) in patients with early-stage breast cancer. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Between 2011 and 2016, women ≥60 years of age with breast carcinoma or Ductal Carcinoma In Situ (DCIS) of ≤30 mm and cN0 undergoing breast-conserving therapy were included in a 2-armed prospective multicenter cohort study. IOERT (1 × 23.3 Gy prescribed at the 100% isodose line) was applied in 1 hospital and EB-APBI (10 × 3.85 Gy daily) in 2 other hospitals. The primary endpoint was IBTR (all recurrences in the ipsilateral breast irrespective of localization) at 5 years after lumpectomy. A competing risk model was used to estimate the cumulative incidences of IBTR, which were compared using Fine and Gray's test. Secondary endpoints were locoregional recurrence rate, distant recurrence, disease-specific survival and overall survival. Univariate Cox regression models were estimated to identify risk factors for IBTR. Analyses were performed of the intention to treat (ITT) population (IOERT n = 305; EB-APBI n = 295), and sensitivity analyses were done of the per-protocol population (IOERT n = 270; EB-APBI n = 207). RESULTS: The median follow-up was 5.2 years (IOERT) and 5 years (EB-APBI). Cumulative incidence of IBTR in the ITT population at 5 years after lumpectomy was 10.6% (95% confidence interval, 7.0%-14.2%) after IOERT and 3.7% (95% confidence interval, 1.2%-5.9%) after EB-APBI (P = .002). The locoregional recurrence rate was significantly higher after IOERT than EB-APBI (12.1% vs 4.5%, P = .001). There were no differences between groups in other endpoints. Sensitivity analysis showed similar results. For both groups, no significant risk factors for IBTR were identified in the ITT population. In the per-protocol population, surgical margin status of the DCIS was the only significant risk factor for developing IBTR in both treatment groups. CONCLUSIONS: Ipsilateral breast tumor recurrences and locoregional recurrence rates were unexpectedly high in patients treated with IOERT, and acceptable in patients treated with EB-APBI.

Impact of PTV margin reduction (2 mm to 0 mm) on pseudoprogression in stereotactic radiotherapy of solitary brain metastases.

PURPOSE: To determine the influence of PTV-margin (0 mm versus 2 mm) on the incidence of pseudoprogression (PP) and local tumour control (LC) in patients treated with stereotactic radiotherapy (SRT) for solitary brain metastases. METHODS: Patients were treated on Novalis LINAC. Three dose schedules were used depending on the PTV-size. The PTV-margin was 2-mm prior to 2015 and 0-mm thereafter. MRI-scans were made every three months including a perfusion MRI-scan when pseudoprogression was suspected. We examined the relation of pseudoprogression and local control with the size of PTV-margin. Besides this, the association of dose-volume data of the whole brain (minus GTV) and pseudoprogression was investigated. RESULTS: 121 patients were analyzed (2-mm margin in 84 patients; 0-mm margin in 37 patients). There was no difference in GTV (7.6 cc versus 9.1 cc p = 0.2). At 24 months there was no difference in incidence of pseudoprogression (49% and versus 33%, p = 0.5) and local control in the 2-mm and 0-mm group (82% and versus 79%, p = 1.0). The size of PTV-margin was not associated with PP. Both margin and volume of brain receiving 12 Gy (V12) were not associated with pseudoprogression in patients treated with single fraction. CONCLUSIONS: PTV-margin reduction did not reduce the incidence of pseudoprogression in LINAC-based-SRT for single brain metastases. We did not find a significant association of GTV-PTV margin or V12Gy with the incidence of pseudoprogression in solitary metastases treated with a single fraction. LC rates were similar, indicating margin reduction seems to be safe.

Quality of Automated Stereotactic Radiosurgery Plans in Patients with 4 to 10 Brain Metastases.

The purpose was to compare linac-based stereotactic radiosurgery and hypofractionated radiotherapy plan quality of automated planning, intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) and manual dynamic conformal arc (DCA) plans as well as single- and multiple-isocenter techniques for multiple brain metastases (BM). For twelve patients with four to ten BM, seven non-coplanar linac-based plans were created: a manually planned DCA plan with a separate isocenter for each metastasis, a single-isocenter dynamic IMRT plan, an automatically generated single-isocenter volumetric modulated arc radiotherapy (VMAT) plan, four automatically generated single-isocenter DCA plans with three or five couch angles, with high or low sparing of normal tissue. Paddick conformity index, gradient index (GI), mean dose, total V12Gy and V5Gy of uninvolved brain, number of monitor units (MUs), irradiation time and pass rate were compared. The GI was significantly higher for VMAT than for separate-isocenter, IMRT, and all automatically generated plans. The number of MUs was lowest for VMAT, followed by automatically generated DCA and IMRT plans and highest for manual DCA plans. Irradiation time was the shortest for automatically planned DCA plans. Automatically generated linac-based single-isocenter plans for multiple BM reduce the number of MUs and irradiation time with at least comparable GI and V5Gy relative to the reference separate-isocenter DCA plans.

ESTRO IORT Task Force/ACROP recommendations for intraoperative radiation therapy with electrons (IOERT) in breast cancer.

The aim of this review is to provide a comprehensive overview of the role of intraoperative radiation therapy with electrons (IOERT) in breast conserving therapy (BCT), both as partial breast irradiation (PBI) as well as anticipated boost ("IOERT-Boost"). For both applications, the criteria for patient selection, technical details/requirements, physical aspects and outcome data are presented. IOERT AS PBI: The largest evidence comes from Italian studies, especially the ELIOT randomized trial. Investigators showed that the rate of in-breast relapses (IBR) in the IOERT group was significantly greater than with whole breast irradiation (WBI), even when within the pre-specified equivalence margin. Tumour sizes >2 cm, involved axillary nodes, Grade 3 and triple negative molecular subtypes emerged as statistically significant predictors of IBR. For patients at low risk for in-breast recurrence (ASTRO/ESTRO recommendations), full dose IOERT was isoeffective with standard WBI. Hence, several national guidelines now include this treatment strategy as one of the standard techniques for PBI in carefully selected patients. IOERT BOOST: The largest evidence for boost IOERT preceding WBI comes from pooled analyses performed by the European Group of the International Society of Intraoperative Radiation Therapy (ISIORT Europe), where single boost doses (mostly around 10 Gy) preceded whole-breast irradiation (WBI) with 50 Gy (conventional fractionation). At median follow-up periods up to ten years, local recurrence rates around 1% were observed for low risk tumours. Higher local relapse rates were described for grade 3 tumours, triple negative breast cancer as well as for patients treated after primary systemic therapy for locally advanced tumours. Even in this settings, long-term (>5y) local tumour control rates beyond 95% were achieved. These encouraging results are interpreted as being attributable to utmost precision in dose delivery (by avoiding a "geographic and/or temporal miss"), and the possible radiobiological superiority of a single high dose fraction, compared to the conventionally fractionated boost. IOERT also showed favourable results in terms of cosmetic outcome, assumedly thanks to the small treated volumes combined with complete skin sparing.

Lower doses to hippocampi and other brain structures for skull-base meningiomas with intensity modulated proton therapy compared to photon therapy.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Radiotherapy of skull-base meningiomas is challenging due to the close proximity of multiple sensitive organs at risk (OARs). This study systematically compared intensity modulated proton therapy (IMPT), non-coplanar volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) and intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) based on automated treatment planning. Differences in OARs sparing, with specific focus on the hippocampi, and low-dose delivery were quantified. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty patients, target diameter >3 cm, were included. Automated plan generation was used to calculate a VMAT plan with three non-coplanar arcs, an IMRT plan with nine non-coplanar beams with optimized gantry and couch angles, and an IMPT plan with three patient-specific selected non-coplanar beams. A prescription dose of 50.4 GyRBE in 28 fractions was used. The same set of constraints and prioritized objectives was used. All plans were rescaled to the same target coverage. Repeated measures ANOVA was used to assess the statistical significance of differences in OAR dose parameters between planning techniques. RESULTS: Compared to VMAT and IMRT, IMPT significantly improved dose conformity to the target volume. Consequently, large dose reductions in OARs were observed. With respect to VMAT, the mean dose and D40% in the bilateral hippocampus were on average reduced by 48% and 74%, respectively (p ≤ 0.005). With IMPT, the mean dose in the normal brain and volumes receiving 20-30 Gy were up to 47% lower (p ≤ 0.01). When comparing IMPT and IMRT, even larger dose differences in those OARs were observed. CONCLUSION: For skull-base meningiomas IMPT allows for a considerable dose reduction in the hippocampi, normal brain and other OARs compared to both non-coplanar VMAT and IMRT, which may lead to a clinically relevant reduction of late neurocognitive side effects.

In vivo dosimetry with MOSFETs and GAFCHROMIC films during electron IORT for Accelerated Partial Breast Irradiation.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to compare the delivered dose to the expected intraoperative radiation therapy (IORT) dose with in vivo dosimetry. For IORT using electrons in accelerated partial breast irradiation, this is especially relevant since a high dose is delivered in a single fraction. METHODS: For 47 of breast cancer patients, in vivo dosimetry was performed with MOSFETs and/or GAFCHROMIC EBT2 films. A total dose of 23.33 Gy at dmax was given directly after completing the lumpectomy procedure with electron beams generated with an IORT dedicated mobile accelerator. A protection disk was used to shield the thoracic wall. RESULTS: The results of in vivo MOSFET dosimetry for 27 patients and GAFROMIC film dosimetry for 20 patients were analysed. The entry dose for the breast tissue, measured with MOSFETs, (mean value 22.3 Gy, SD 3.4%) agreed within 1.7% with the expected dose (mean value 21.9 Gy). The dose in breast tissue, measured with GAFCHROMIC films (mean value 23.50 Gy) was on average within 0.7% (SD = 3.7%, range -5.5% to 5.6%) of the prescribed dose of 23.33 Gy. CONCLUSIONS: The dose measured with MOSFETs and GAFROMIC EBT2 films agreed well with the expected dose. For both methods, the dose to the thoracic wall, lungs and heart for left sided patents was lower than 2.5 Gy even when 12 MeV was applied. The positioning time of GAFCHROMIC films is negligible and based on our results we recommend its use as a standard tool for patient quality assurance during breast cancer IORT.

Does 4 MV perform better compared to 6 MV in the presence of air cavities in the head and neck region?

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The underdose near air cavities in the head and neck region at photon energies of 4 MV and 6 MV was studied in search for clinical advantages of the 4 MV over 6 MV treatments. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The on-axis and off-axis dose distributions were measured with a parallel-plate ionization chamber and films in polystyrene phantoms containing an air cavity of appropriate size based on the results of computed tomography scans. RESULTS: Although most results are similar for both energies, the 4 MV photon beams give a somewhat smaller underdose effect and a faster re-build up than the 6 MV. For both energies a significant underdose effect was observed at the edge of the field in the larynx phantom. This proved to be true for small and large fields, for smaller and larger cavities, for one-beam as well as parallel-opposed beams. CONCLUSION: For most clinically relevant situations there is no remarkable benefit in the use of either of the two energies.

Target volume delineation in breast conserving radiotherapy: are co-registered CT and MR images of added value?

INTRODUCTION: In breast conserving radiotherapy differences of target volume delineations between observers do occur. We evaluated whether delineations based on co-registered computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging may result in an improved consistency between observers. We used the delineation conformity index (CI) to compare clinical target volumes of glandular breast tissue (CTV breast) and lumpectomy cavity (LC) on both imaging modalities. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Four observers delineated CTV breast and LC on co-registered CTMR images in ten breast cancer patients. CIs were determined for CT and CTMR. Furthermore, the Cavity Visualization Score (CVS) of LC was taken into account. RESULTS: The mean CI for CTV breast (CICT;CTV: 0.82 and CICT-CTMR;CTV: 0.80) and LC (CICT;LC: 0.52 and CICT-CTMR;LC: 0.48) did not differ significantly (p=0.07 and p=0.33, respectively). Taking CVS into account for the LC, with a CVS ≥ 4 the mean CI was 0.62 for both CICT;LC and CICT-CTMR;LC. CONCLUSION: The mean volume of the delineated glandular breast tissue based on CT was significantly larger compared to the volume based on CTMR. For patients with a CVS ≥ 4, the mean CIs of the LC were higher compared to CVS<4 for volumes delineated on both CT as well as CTMR images. In our study cohort no significant differences between the CIs of the CTV breast and the LC delineated on CTMR co-registered images were found compared to the CIs on CT images only. Adding MR images does not seem to improve consistency of the delineation of the CTV breast and the LC, even though the volumes were copied from CT images. Since we included only ten patients, caution should be taken with regard to the results of our study.

Left-sided breast cancer radiotherapy with and without breath-hold: does IMRT reduce the cardiac dose even further?

PURPOSE: In radiotherapy for left-sided breast cancer, Active Breathing Control enables a decrease of cardiac and Left Anterior Descending (LAD) coronary artery dose. We compared 3D-Conformal (3D-CRT) to Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy (IMRT) treatment plans based on free-breathing (FB) and breath-hold (BH). We investigated whether IMRT enables an additional decrease of cardiac dose in radiotherapy plans with and without BH. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Twenty patients referred for whole breast irradiation were included. The whole breast, heart and LAD-region were contoured. Four treatment plans were generated: FB_3D-CRT; FB_IMRT; BH_3D-CRT; BH_IMRT. Several doses were obtained from Dose Volume Histograms and compared. Results were compared statistically using the Wilcoxin Signed Rank Test. For heart and LAD-region, a significant dose reduction was found in BH (p<0.01). For both BH and FB, a significant dose reduction was found using IMRT (p<0.01). By using IMRT an average reduction of 5% was noted in the LAD-region for the volume receiving 20Gy. In 5 cases, the LAD-region remained situated in the vicinity of the radiation portals even in BH. Nevertheless, with IMRT the LAD dose was reduced in these cases. CONCLUSION: IMRT results in a significant additional decrease of dose in the heart and LAD-region in both breath-hold and free-breathing.

Preradiotherapy calcium scores of the coronary arteries in a cohort of women with early-stage breast cancer: a comparison with a cohort of healthy women.

PURPOSE: Breast cancer radiotherapy has been associated with an increased risk of cardiac toxicity. However, no data are available on the probability of developing coronary artery disease (CAD) in breast cancer patients when compared with healthy women. Therefore, baseline coronary artery calcium (CAC) scores, as an accepted tool to predict CAD, were determined and compared with the CAC scores of a healthy, asymptomatic cohort, the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) cohort. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Eighty consecutive patients with ductal carcinoma in situ or infiltrative breast cancer referred for radiotherapy after breast-conserving surgery were included in our study. Their cardiovascular risk profile was registered, and a 64 multislice CT scan was performed. The CAC scores of an unselected (Caucasian only) Radiotherapy Centre West (RCWEST) cohort, as well as of those of a selected (comorbidity and race adjusted) RCWEST cohort, were determined. The scores of both cohorts were compared with those of the female (Caucasian only) MESA cohort. RESULTS: For the unselected RCWEST cohort (n = 62) we found significant (p < .01) higher scores for women in the 55-64 age category compared with those of the MESA cohort. In the selected cohort (n = 55) the CAC scores of the women in the age category 55-64 were significantly (p = .02) higher compared with the MESA cohort. No significant differences were noted in the other age categories. CONCLUSION: Both cohorts revealed that CAC scores in the 55-64 age category were significantly higher than the CAC scores in the asymptomatic (female) MESA population. These data suggest that breast cancer patients bear a higher risk of developing coronary heart disease before the start of radiotherapy. Therefore, measures to decrease cardiac dose further in breast cancer radiotherapy are even more important.