title: Intensity modulated radiation-therapy for preoperative posterior abdominal wall irradiation of retroperitoneal liposarcomas.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Preoperative external-beam radiation therapy (preop RT) in the management of Retroperitoneal Liposarcomas (RPLS) typically involves the delivery of radiation to the entire tumor mass: yet this may not be necessary. The purpose of this study is to evaluate a new strategy of preop RT for RPLS in which the target volume is limited to the contact area between the tumoral mass and the posterior abdominal wall.
  
  
  METHODS
  Between June 2000 and Jan 2005, 18 patients with the diagnosis of RPLS have been treated following a pilot protocol of pre-op RT, 50 Gy in 25 fractions of 2 Gy/day. The Clinical Target Volume (CTV) has been limited to the posterior abdominal wall, region at higher risk for local relapse. A Three-Dimensional conformal (3D-CRT) and an Intensity Modulated (IMRT) plan were generated and compared; toxicity was reported following the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events v3.0.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All patients completed the planned treatment and the acute toxicity was tolerable: 2 patients experienced Grade 3 and 1 Grade 2 anorexia while 2 patients developed Grade 2 nausea. IMRT allows a better sparing of the ipsilateral and the contralateral kidney. All tumors were successfully resected without major complications. At a median follow-up of 27 months 2 patients developed a local relapse and 1 lung metastasis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our strategy of preop RT is feasible and well tolerated: the rate of resectability is not compromised by limiting the preop CTV to the posterior abdominal wall and a better critical-structures sparing is obtained with IMRT.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, University Hospitals Gasthuisberg, Leuven, Belgium. alberto.bossi@uz.kuleuven.ac.be
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bossi
authors.forename: Ivo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: De Wever
authors.forename: Erik
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Van Limbergen
authors.forename: Bianca
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Vanstraelen
mesh_terms: D034861:Abdominal Wall; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008080:Liposarcoma / Q000532:radiotherapy* / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000532:radiotherapy; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011446:Prospective Studies; D050397:Radiotherapy, Intensity-Modulated / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods*; D012186:Retroperitoneal Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy* / Q000601:surgery