Report of a study on IMRT planning strategies for ethmoid sinus cancer

Abstract

Aim: This communication reviews the planning strategies and dose statistics of nine IMRT plans generated for a complex head and neck case. Patient and Method: An ethmoid sinus cancer case was sent as an IMRT planning task to all participants of the ESTRO course on "IMRT and Other Conformal Techniques in Practice", held in Amsterdam in June 2001. Results: Nine IMRT plans were generated for the case, the majority of the plans generated with commercial planning systems. The number of beam incidences ranged between four and eleven, while five of the nine beam setups were coplanar. The planning target volume dose homogeneity was inversely correlated with the degree of sparing of the surrounding organs at risk. Conclusion: IMRT strategies for complex head and neck cases, such as ethmoid sinus cancer, can be strikingly different in various aspects, such as beam setup, total number of segments, PTV dose coverage and dose statistics for organs at risks.