Effects of radiotherapy planning with a dedicated combined PET-CT-simulator of patients with non-small cell lung cancer on dose limiting normal tissues and radiation dose-escalation: a planning study.

Background And Purpose: To investigate the effect of radiotherapy planning with a dedicated combined PET-CT simulator of patients with locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer.

Patients And Methods: Twenty-one patients underwent a pre-treatment simulation on a dedicated hybrid PET-CT-simulator. For each patient, two 3D conformal treatment plans were made: one with a CT based PTV and one with a PET-CT based PTV, both to deliver 60Gy in 30 fractions.