Management of radiation oncology patients with a pacemaker or ICD: a new comprehensive practical guideline in The Netherlands. Dutch Society of Radiotherapy and Oncology (NVRO).

Current clinical guidelines for the management of radiotherapy patients having either a pacemaker or implantable cardioverter defibrillator (both CIEDs: Cardiac Implantable Electronic Devices) do not cover modern radiotherapy techniques and do not take the patient's perspective into account. Available data on the frequency and cause of CIED failure during radiation therapy are limited and do not converge. The Dutch Society of Radiotherapy and Oncology (NVRO) initiated a multidisciplinary task group consisting of clinical physicists, cardiologists, radiation oncologists, pacemaker and ICD technologists to develop evidence based consensus guidelines for the management of CIED patients.

Interference detection in implantable defibrillators induced by therapeutic radiation therapy.

Background: Electromagnetic fields and ionising radiation during radiotherapy can influence the functioning of ICDs. Guidelines for radiotherapy treatment were published in 1994, but only based on experience with pacemakers. Data on the influence of radiotherapy on ICDs is limited.

In vivo dosimetry during conformal radiotherapy: requirements for and findings of a routine procedure.

Purpose: Conformal radiotherapy requires accurate knowledge of the actual dose delivered to a patient. The impact of routine in vivo dosimetry, including its special requirements, clinical findings and resources, has been analysed for three conformal treatment techniques to evaluate its usefulness in daily clinical practice.

Materials And Methods: Based on pilot studies, routine in vivo dosimetry quality control (QC) protocols were implemented in the clinic.