Clinical target volume localization using conventional methods (anatomy and palpation) and ultrasonography in early breast cancer post-operative external irradiation.

Purpose: To evaluate the accuracy of three methods, anatomy (A), palpation (P) and ultrasounds (US) in localizing the clinical target volume (CTV) in patients (pts) with early breast cancer (EBC) undergoing breast external irradiation as part of conservation therapy.

Material And Methods: One hundred consecutive pts with EBC (T(is) 1%, T1 78%, T2 21%, N- 68%, N+ 32%), treated with conservation surgery and breast irradiation with opposed tangential portals, were prospectively analyzed. Anatomically, palpatory or ultrasound defined field borders for CTV localizations were determined in the same position thanks to the utilization of a vacuum-formed cellulose acetate immobilization cast, removed during CTV definitions.

Report of long-term follow-up in a randomized trial comparing radiation therapy and radiation therapy plus hyperthermia to metastatic lymph nodes in stage IV head and neck patients.

Purpose: The treatment of inoperable metastatic lymph nodes in patients with head and neck cancer represents a therapeutic challenge. Clinical results using conventional radiation therapy are disappointing; on the other hand, the evaluation of recent innovative radiotherapeutic methods is still pending. The end points of this analysis were focused on long-term local control, on its potential influence on survival, and on late toxicity of a previously reported randomized Phase III study comparing conventionally fractionated radical irradiation alone or combined with local hyperthermia in fixed and inoperable metastatic neck lymph nodes.

Beam modifying devices in the treatment of early breast cancer: 3-D stepped compensating technique.

A 3-D compensating technique utilizing stepped brass filters to ensure an adequate dose distribution in the breast after conservative surgery is described. No compensation for lung inhomogeneity is applied. These compensators are part of a procedure which also involves the use of a rotatable half-beam block (HBB) and of an individualized immobilization cast.

Early breast cancer irradiation after conservative surgery: quality control by portal localization films.

A review of geometrical errors on portal localization films in 20 patients undergoing breast irradiation after conservative surgery is presented. Patients were immobilized using a cellulose acetate individual cast. Good precision in daily set-up has been noted with a mean ventrodorsal shift of 2.

Quality control in the conservative treatment of breast cancer: patient dosimetry using silicon detectors.

Twenty patients with early breast cancer were treated with external irradiation, delivered with two tangential beams (6 MV X-rays) using a half-beam block (HBB) and 3-D compensating filters. All patients were immobilized with individualized cellulose acetate casts. Patient dosimetry was performed using p-type silicon detectors.

[Personalized low-melting alloy shield for high-energy electrons in the treatment of superficial neoplasms of critical or esthetically important regions].

Individualized Cerrobend beam shapings for high-energy electrons have been utilized in the treatment of superficial tumours located in aesthetic or critical regions. Individualized cellulose acetate masks have been used as immobilization device. Measured transmissions through Cerrobend ranged from 0.