title: Transmission blocks: clinical and biological rationales.
abstract: This paper describes the clinical and biological rationales for the use of transmission blocks. Clinical advantages over the use of full-thickness blocks applied part way through the course of therapy include the use of only one set of fields, blocks, and beam calculations, and less complex chart recording. There is a net saving in time required for the preparation and treatment of the patient. There is also a quality assurance advantage since the impact of a potential error in block positioning is reduced. In terms of biological advantages, it is demonstrated that the linear-quadratic iso-effect model can be applied to predict an improvement of up to 10% in the therapeutic ratio if transmission blocks are used instead of full-thickness blocks.
mesh_terms: D000005:Abdomen; D002648:Child; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D006801:Humans; D007668:Kidney / Q000528:radiation effects; D008297:Male; D008433:Mathematics; D009447:Neuroblastoma / Q000628:therapy; D011137:Polystyrenes; D011878:Radiotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
chemical_list: D011137:Polystyrenes