Assessment of interfractional variation of the breast surface following conventional patient positioning for whole-breast radiotherapy.

The purpose of this study was to quantify the variability of the breast surface position when aligning whole-breast patients to bony landmarks based on MV portal films or skin marks alone. Surface imaging was used to assess the breast surface position of 11 whole-breast radiotherapy patients, but was not used for patient positioning. On filmed fractions, AlignRT v5.

Calculation and prediction of the effect of respiratory motion on whole breast radiation therapy dose distributions.

The standard treatment technique used for whole-breast irradiation can result in undesirable dose distributions in the treatment site, leading to skin reaction/fibrosis and pulmonary and cardiac toxicities. Hence, the technique has evolved from conventional wedged technique (CWT) to segment intensity-modulated radiation therapy (SIMRT) and beamlet IMRT (IMRT). However, these newer techniques feature more highly modulated dose distributions that may be affected by respiration.