Standard and Nonstandard Craniospinal Radiotherapy Using Helical TomoTherapy

Journal Article · Thu Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 2010 · International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology and Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrobp.2009.09.020· OSTI ID:21436055

Parker, William ^[1]; Brodeur, Marylene ^[1]; Roberge, David; Freeman, Carolyn ^[2]

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1. Department of Medical Physics, McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, Quebec (Canada)
2. Department of Radiation Oncology, McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, Quebec (Canada)

Purpose: To show the advantages of planning and delivering craniospinal radiotherapy with helical TomoTherapy (TomoTherapy Inc., Madison, WI) by presenting 4 cases treated at our institution. Methods and Materials: We first present a standard case of craniospinal irradiation in a patient with recurrent myxopapillary ependymoma (MPE) and follow this with 2 cases requiring differential dosing to multiple target volumes. One of these, a patient with recurrent medulloblastoma, required a lower dose to be delivered to the posterior fossa because the patient had been previously irradiated to the full dose, and the other required concurrent boosts to leptomeningeal metastases as part of his treatment for newly diagnosed MPE. The final case presented is a patient with pronounced scoliosis who required spinal irradiation for recurrent MPE. Results: The four cases presented were planned and treated successfully with Helical Tomotherapy. Conclusions: Helical TomoTherapy delivers continuous arc-based intensity-modulated radiotherapy that gives high conformality and excellent dose homogeneity for the target volumes. Increased healthy tissue sparing is achieved at higher doses albeit at the expense of larger volumes of tissue receiving lower doses. Helical TomoTherapy allows for differential dosing of multiple targets, resulting in very elegant dose distributions. Daily megavoltage computed tomography imaging allows for precision of patient positioning, permitting a reduction in planning margins and increased healthy tissue sparing in comparison with standard techniques.

• OSTI ID: 21436055
• Journal Information: International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology and Physics, Journal Name: International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology and Physics Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 77; ISSN IOBPD3; ISSN 0360-3016
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE
CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM
COMPUTERIZED TOMOGRAPHY
CT-GUIDED RADIOTHERAPY
DIAGNOSTIC TECHNIQUES
MEDICINE
NERVOUS SYSTEM
NUCLEAR MEDICINE
PATIENTS
POSITIONING
RADIOLOGY
RADIOTHERAPY
SPINAL CORD
THERAPY
TOMOGRAPHY