An attempted substitute study of total skin electron therapy technique by using helical photon tomotherapy with helical irradiation of the total skin treatment: a phantom result.

An anthropomorphic phantom was used to investigate a treatment technique and analyze the dose distributions for helical irradiation of the total skin (HITS) by helical tomotherapy (HT). Hypothetical bolus of thicknesses of 0, 10, and 15 mm was added around the phantom body to account for the dose homogeneity and setup uncertainty. A central core structure was assigned as a "complete block" to force the dose tangential delivery. HITS technique with prescribed dose (D p ) of 36 Gy in 36 fractions was generated. The radiochromic EBT2 films were used for the dose measurements. The target region with 95.0% of the D p received by more than 95% of the PTV was obtained. The calculated mean doses for the organs at risk (OARs) were 4.69, 3.10, 3.20, and 2.94 Gy for the lung, heart, liver, and kidneys, respectively. The measurement doses on a phantom surface for a plan with 10 mm hypothetical bolus and bolus thicknesses of 0, 1, 2, and 3 mm are 89.5%, 111.4%, 116.9%, and 117.7% of D p , respectively. HITS can provide an accurate and uniform treatment dose in the skin with limited doses to OARs and is safe to replace a total skin electron beam regimen.