Planning strategies and practical implementation of the cardiac dose reduction in the left-side breast irradiation with the deep inspiration breath-hold (DIBH) method

Abstract

Background: Despite of the use of tangential beam directions during the irradiation of mammary carcinomas, a dose reduction of the heart cannot always be achieved. This is decivise for the increased risk of heart diseases and the associated mortality. Especially affected is the cardiac apex. However, by using respiratory gated treatment techniques, like the deep inspiration breath-hold (DIBH), a dose sparing of this area can be reached.

Keywords

• abc
• deep inspiration breath-hold
• breast cancer
• vmat
• maximum heart dose
• cardiac toxicity
• left anterior descending coronary artery