Cardiac dose reduction using deep inspiratory breath hold (DIBH) in radiation treatment of left sided breast cancer patients with breast conservation surgery and modified radical mastectomy.

Purpose: Deep inspiration breath hold (DIBH) reduces heart and pulmonary doses during left-sided breast radiation therapy (RT); however, there is limited information whether the reduction in doses is similar in patients with modified radical MRM (MRM) and breast conservation surgery (BCS). The primary objective was to determine whether DIBH offers greater dosimetric reduction in cardiac doses in patients with MRM as compared to BCS with secondary objectives of documenting time consumed in counseling, simulation and planning such techniques.

Methods: Thirty patients with diagnosis of left sided breast cancer underwent CT simulation both free breathing (FB) and DIBH.