title: Survey of current practices from the International Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy Consortium (ISBRTC) for head and neck cancers.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To provide a multi-institutional description of current practices of stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) for head and neck cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  15 international institutions with significant experience in head and neck SBRT were asked to complete a questionnaire covering clinical and technical factors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  SBRT is used 10-100% of the time for recurrent primary head and neck cancer, and 0-10% of the time in newly diagnosed disease. Five centers use a constraint for primary disease of 3-5 cm and 25-30 cc. Nine institutions apply a clinical target volume expansion of 1-10 mm and 14 use a planning target volume margin of 1-5 mm. Fractionation regimens vary between 15 and 22 Gy in 1 fraction to 30-50 Gy in 5 or 6 fractions. The risk of carotid blowout quoted in the re-irradiation setting ranges from 3 to 20%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is considerable heterogeneity in patient selection and techniques in head and neck SBRT practice among experienced centers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Odette Cancer Centre, Sunnybrook Health Science Center, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Irene
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Karam
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center, Case Comprehensive Cancer Center, Cleveland, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Otolaryngology, Head & Neck Surgery, University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Dwight E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Heron
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Odette Cancer Centre, Sunnybrook Health Science Center, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Poon
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Taussig Cancer Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Shlomo A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Koyfman
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Sue S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Yom
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Henry Ford Health System, Detroit, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Farzan
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Siddiqui
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Centre Oscar Lambret, Lille, France.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lartigau
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Mustafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cengiz
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Graduate School of Medical Science, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan.
authors.forename: Hideya
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yamazaki
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Wendy
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hara
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Jack
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Phan
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Otolaryngology, Head & Neck Surgery, University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
authors.forename: John A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Vargo
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Oncology, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Victor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA.
authors.forename: Robert L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Foote
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Georgetown University & Vincent T Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Washington, DC, USA.
authors.forename: K William
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Harter
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Nancy Y
authors.initials: NY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Odette Cancer Centre, Sunnybrook Health Science Center, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Arjun
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sahgal
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA.
authors.forename: Simon S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Lo
mesh_terms: D019583:Dose Fractionation, Radiation; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D016634:Radiosurgery / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods; D011880:Radiotherapy Planning, Computer-Assisted; D059039:Standard of Care
keywords: SBRT; ablation; head and neck cancer; patterns of practice; stereotactic