title: A dosimetric comparison of three compensator design methods for the mantle field.
abstract: The mid-plane dose was measured in an anthropomorphic phantom for parallel opposed mantle fields as typically used in the treatment of Hodgkin's Disease. Doses were measured for four cases: no compensator, a compensator designed by a three-dimensional CT based treatment planning algorithm, a compensator designed from a port film, and a compensator designed from surface topography. The results showed all three compensators gave a significant better dose distribution than using no compensator at all. Without a compensator, doses varied from 92 percent to 131 percent, with a standard deviation of 10.9 percent for 65 measured points. The treatment planning algorithm gave the best performance with a standard deviation of 3.2 percent with all points but three within 5 percent out of the 65 points measured, and no points outside of 10 percent. The port film compensator was next best with a standard deviation of 4.4 percent, with 19 points outside of 5 percent, and doses from 88 to 106 percent. The surface topography compensator had a standard deviation of 6.1 percent with 31 points outside of 5% and doses from 89 to 114 percent.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Therapy, Community Hospitals Indianapolis, IN 46219.
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Cantwell
authors.forename: W D
authors.initials: WD
authors.lastname: Renner
authors.forename: T P
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: O'Connor
authors.forename: N M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Bermudez
mesh_terms: D006689:Hodgkin Disease / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D006801:Humans; D008961:Models, Structural; D011879:Radiotherapy Dosage; D011880:Radiotherapy Planning, Computer-Assisted; D011881:Radiotherapy, Computer-Assisted; D011882:Radiotherapy, High-Energy / Q000379:methods*