Dosimetric assessment of bolus for postmastectomy radiotherapy

There remains wide variation in the use of chest wall boluses for postmastectomy radiotherapy, which may result from the need for 2 treatment plans with the commonly used half-time tissue-equivalent 5-mm-thick bolus to achieve a full surface dose. To establish a bolus method requiring one treatment plan, we assessed the surface dose of a thinner daily bolus for all treatment fractions and compared it against the half-time 5-mm-thick bolus. In this basic study, we specifically investigated dosage achieved when using the following: (1) the existing bolus protocol, a half-time 5-mm-thick tissue-equivalent Clearfit bolus (Fujidenolo Inc., Aichi, JP); (2) no bolus; and (3) daily 1-, 2-, and 3-mm-thick Clearfit boluses at 4 and 6 MV photons.

Source: Medical Dosimetry - September 1, 2020 Category: Radiology Authors: Terufumi Kawamoto, Naoto Shikama, Chie Kurokawa, Naoya Hara, Masaki Oshima, Keisuke Sasai Source Type: research