Three-dimensional printers applied for the production of beam blocks in total body irradiation treatment.

Purpose: Total body irradiation (TBI) in extended source surface distance (SSD) is a common treatment technique before hematopoietic stem cell transplant. The lungs are organs at risk, which often are treated with a lower dose than the whole body.

Methods: This can be achieved by the application of blocks.

Secondary malignancy risk for patients with localized prostate cancer after intensity-modulated radiotherapy with and without flattening filter.

Men treated for localized prostate cancer by radiotherapy have often a remaining life span of 10 yr or more. Therefore, the risk for secondary malignancies should be taken into account. Plans for ten patients were evaluated which had been performed on an Oncentra® treatment planning system for a treatment with an Elekta Synergy™ linac with Agility™ head.

The influence of radiotherapy techniques on the plan quality and on the risk of secondary tumors in patients with pituitary adenoma.

Background: This planning study compares different radiotherapy techniques for patients with pituitary adenoma, including flatness filter free mode (FFF), concerning plan quality and secondary malignancies for potentially young patients. The flatness filter has been described as main source of photon scatter.

Material And Methods: Eleven patients with pituitary adenoma were included.

Second cancer risk after radiation therapy of ependymoma using the flattening filter free irradiation mode of a linear accelerator.

Pediatric patients suffering from ependymoma are usually treated with cranial or craniospinal three-dimensional (3D) conformal radiotherapy (3DCRT). Intensity-modulated techniques spare dose to the surrounding tissue, but the risk for second malignancies may be increased due to the increase in low-dose volume. The aim of this study is to investigate if the flattening filter free (FFF) mode allows reducing the risk for second malignancies compared to the mode with flattening filter (FF) for intensity-modulated techniques and to 3DCRT.