title: Using a thermoluminescent dosimeter to evaluate the location reliability of the highest-skin dose area detected by treatment planning in radiotherapy for breast cancer.
abstract: Acute skin reaction during adjuvant radiotherapy for breast cancer is an inevitable process, and its severity is related to the skin dose. A high-skin dose area can be speculated based on the isodose distribution shown on a treatment planning. To determine whether treatment planning can reflect high-skin dose location, 80 patients were collected and their skin doses in different areas were measured using a thermoluminescent dosimeter to locate the highest-skin dose area in each patient. We determined whether the skin dose is consistent with the highest-dose area estimated by the treatment planning of the same patient. The χ(2) and Fisher exact tests revealed that these 2 methods yielded more consistent results when the highest-dose spots were located in the axillary and breast areas but not in the inframammary area. We suggest that skin doses shown on the treatment planning might be a reliable and simple alternative method for estimating the highest skin doses in some areas.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Zuoying Branch of Kaohsiung Armed Forces General Hospital, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan. Electronic address: limin.sun@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Li-Min
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan; Faculty of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan; College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chih-Jen
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Hsiao-Yun
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Zuoying Branch of Kaohsiung Armed Forces General Hospital, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Fan-Yun
authors.initials: FY
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Zuoying Branch of Kaohsiung Armed Forces General Hospital, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Tsung-Hsien
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Zuoying Branch of Kaohsiung Armed Forces General Hospital, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Min-Jen
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Tsao
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D058958:Organs at Risk / Q000528:radiation effects; D011835:Radiation Protection; D011855:Radiodermatitis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011879:Radiotherapy Dosage; D011880:Radiotherapy Planning, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D020266:Radiotherapy, Conformal / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012867:Skin / Q000528:radiation effects; D013819:Thermoluminescent Dosimetry / Q000379:methods*
keywords: Breast cancer; Radiotherapy; Thermoluminescent dosimeter; Treatment planning system