title: [Primary exploration of individual biological boosting target volume for locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To explore the methods of detecting and defining the biological boosting target volume (BBTV) in patients with locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).
  
  
  METHODS
  Ten patients with locally advanced NPC treated at our center during September to December 2010 were enrolled. The following factors were used to define and contour BBTV, including dose-deficient area locating at skull-base of gross tumor volume in conventional irradiation, hypoxia area detected by (99m)Tc-HL91 Single-photon emission computed tomography/computed tomography (SPET/CT) imaging and tumor-burdened area evaluated by comparing the pre-treatment and 36 Gy irradiation's CT images scanning at the same treatment position.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The volume of BBTV was (17 ± 7) cm(3), accounting for 51% ± 19% of gross tumor volume. In BBTV, the volumes and proportion of skull base dose-deficient, hypoxia and tumor-burdened area were (5.8 ± 2.5) cm(3), (7.7 ± 3.6) cm(3), (9.0 ± 5.8) cm(3) and 34.4%, 45.7% and 53.3% respectively. However, the proportion of overlapping volume between three areas was only 33.1%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  BBTV may be composed of skull base dose-deficient, hypoxia and tumor-burdened volume. It provides a new reference for individualized radiotherapy in locally advanced NPC.
authors: State Key Laboratory of Oncology in Southern China/Department of Radiation Oncology, Interventional Radiology, Nuclear Medicine, Cancer Center, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510060, China.
authors: Ge
authors: G
authors: Wen
authors: Xiao-bo
authors: XB
authors: Huang
authors: Wei-dong
authors: WD
authors: Zhang
authors: Xiao-ping
authors: XP
authors: Lin
authors: Zhi-chun
authors: ZC
authors: He
authors: Yun-fei
authors: YF
authors: Xia
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002277:Carcinoma; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D000077274:Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011859:Radiography; D011879:Radiotherapy Dosage; D011880:Radiotherapy Planning, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D019291:Skull Base / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*