Improving Treatment Plan Robustness at Internal Tissue-Air Interfaces in Head and Neck Radiotherapy

Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy (VMAT) has become a staple of modern head and neck (HN) radiation planning, but there may exist unexpected failure modes in which VMAT plans are less robust than typically expected. We identify and characterize one such potential instability (to our knowledge not previously described) that can occur at the interface between target volume (e.g. a mucosal primary tumor) and internal air (e.g. pharyngeal lumen, sinuses, nasal cavity, etc.), where the lack of a sufficient region for full dose buildup can lead to development of unexpected hotspots with even minor variations in target geometry.

Source: International Journal of Radiation Oncology * Biology * Physics - March 14, 2024 Category: Radiology Authors: S. Jain, A. Ewing, D. Christ, E. Gogineni, M. Weldon, S. Zhu, S.J. Ma, J.C. Grecula, D.L. Mitchell, S. Baliga, D.M. Blakaj, D.J. Konieczkowski Tags: 215 Source Type: research