Six-year experience routinely using moderate deep inspiration breath-hold for the reduction of cardiac dose in left-sided breast irradiation for patients with early-stage or locally advanced breast cancer.

Purpose: Moderate deep inspiration breath-hold (mDIBH), using an Active Breathing Control device, has been used in our clinic since 2002 to reduce cardiac dose for patients receiving left-sided breast irradiation. We report our routine use of the mDIBH technique in clinically localized breast cancer, treated to the intact breast, reconstructed breast, or chest wall.

Materials And Methods: Ninety-nine patients with left-sided breast cancer were evaluated for Active Breathing Control treatment, of which, 87 patients were treated with mDIBH.

MRI-based volumetric assessment of cardiac anatomy and dose reduction via active breathing control during irradiation for left-sided breast cancer.

Purpose: Heart dose-volume analysis using computed tomography (CT) is limited because of motion artifact and poor delineation between myocardium and ventricular space. We used dedicated cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to quantify exclusion of left ventricular (LV) myocardium via active breathing control (ABC) during left breast irradiation and to determine the correlation between irradiated whole heart and LV volumes.

Methods And Materials: Fifteen patients who completed adjuvant irradiation for early-stage left breast cancer participated.

Ongoing clinical experience utilizing 3D conformal external beam radiotherapy to deliver partial-breast irradiation in patients with early-stage breast cancer treated with breast-conserving therapy.

Purpose: We present our ongoing clinical experience utilizing 3D conformal radiation therapy (3D-CRT) to deliver partial-breast irradiation (PBI) in patients with early-stage breast cancer treated with breast-conserving therapy.

Materials And Methods: Thirty-one patients referred for postoperative radiation therapy after lumpectomy were treated with PBI using our previously reported 3D-CRT technique. Ninety-four percent of patients had surgical clips outlining the lumpectomy cavity (mean: 6 clips).

Three-dimensional evaluation of intra- and interfraction immobilization of lung and chest wall using active breathing control: a reproducibility study with breast cancer patients.

Purpose: A CT-based three-dimensional (3D) method was used to analyze the intra- and interfraction reproducibility of lung immobilization during moderate deep inspiration breath hold (mDIBH), defined as 75% of the maximal inspiration using an active breathing control (ABC) apparatus.

Methods And Materials: The ABC apparatus was used to immobilize the breathing motion with a computer-controlled valve. Immobilization of the lungs in breast cancer patients was used as a model to evaluate the reproducibility of mDIBH using the ABC apparatus.

Initial clinical experience with moderate deep-inspiration breath hold using an active breathing control device in the treatment of patients with left-sided breast cancer using external beam radiation therapy.

Introduction: We present our initial clinical experience using moderate deep-inspiration breath hold (mDIBH) with an active breathing control (ABC) device to reduce heart dose in the treatment of patients with early-stage, left-sided breast cancer using external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) limited to the whole breast.

Methods And Materials: Between February and August 2002, 5 patients with Stages I/II left-sided breast cancer received EBRT limited to the whole breast using an ABC device. After standard virtual simulation, patients with >2% of the heart receiving >30 Gy in free breathing were selected.