title: Novel application of helical tomotherapy in whole skull palliative radiotherapy.
abstract: Helical tomotherapy (HT) is a radiation planning/delivery platform that combines inversely planned IMRT with on-board megavoltage imaging. A unique HT radiotherapy whole skull brain sparing technique is described in a patient with metastatic prostate cancer. An inverse HT plan and an accompanying back-up conventional lateral 6-MV parallel opposed pair (POP) plan with corresponding isodose distributions and dose-volume histograms (DVH) were created and assessed prior to initiation of therapy. Plans conforming to the planning treatment volume (PTV) with significant sparing of brain, optic nerve, and eye were created. Dose heterogeneity to the PTV target was slightly higher in the HT plan compared to the back-up POP plan. Conformal sparing of brain, optic nerve, and eye was achieved by the HT plan. Similar lens and brain stem/spinal cord doses were seen with both plans. Prospective clinical evaluation with relevant end points (quality of life, symptom relief) are required to confirm the potential benefits of highly conformal therapies applied to palliative situations such as this case.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Radiation Oncology and Physics and Engineering, London Regional Cancer Program, London, Ontario, Canada. george.rodrigues@lhsc.on.ca
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rodrigues
authors.forename: Slav
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yartsev
authors.forename: Terry
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Coad
authors.forename: Glenn
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bauman
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010166:Palliative Care; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology; D011835:Radiation Protection; D011879:Radiotherapy Dosage; D011880:Radiotherapy Planning, Computer-Assisted; D019292:Skull Base Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000532:radiotherapy* / Q000556:secondary; D036542:Tomography, Spiral Computed