Principles and Practice of Modern Radiotherapy Techniques in Breast Cancer by Ayfer Haydaroglu & Gokhan Ozyigit

Author:Ayfer Haydaroglu & Gokhan Ozyigit
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Springer New York, New York, NY

16.1 Introduction

Breast cancer is the leading type of cancer found in women. Radiotherapy is commonly administered in this type of cancer, as well as surgery, chemotherapy, and hormone therapy. Conventionally, two-dimensional (2D) wedge compensators have been used for many years; however, in parallel with the advancement of medical technologies, they have been upgraded and replaced by more advanced three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3D-CRT) technique. Particularly with the use of computed tomography (CT) in radiotherapy treatment simulation and planning, tumor location can be determined more confidently, and highly homogenous and conformal radiation dose distributions can be obtained. Thus, unintended high radiation doses can be reduced in the critical structures such as the skin, lung, and HEART, so that early and late adverse effects are ensured to be decreased. Planning and implementation of the 3D-CRT have improved over the course of time through developments concerning medical technology and expert-level experience. Through developing different techniques, improved patient comfort, accurate applicability, and further reduction in the adverse effects are ensured [1].

Based on the methods and tools used in the implementation phase, CRT can be categorized under three main headings. They are simple conformal radiotherapy, which consists of radiation fields distinctively identified by direct radiography and limited CT data; 3D-CRT, which is composed of 3D data of tumor volume defined on CT images in accordance with International Commission on Radiation Units and Measurements (ICRU) 50 and 62; and advanced 3D-CRT, a more complex technique which is also known as intensity modulated radiotherapy [2, 3].

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