Workload of breast image-guided intensity-modulated radiotherapy delivered with TomoTherapy

Abstract

Objective:

To report treatment times (door to door) of adjuvant treatments of breast cancer (BC) with intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT).

Methods:

Treatment times of 62 patients with BC on the TomoTherapy Hi-Art System were collected for the analysis. Patients underwent either locoregional radiotherapy (postmastectomy radiotherapy [PMRT]) with helical modality (TomoHelical) or whole breast radiotherapy (RT) with simultaneous integrated boost (WBRT-SIB) with direct modality (TomoDirect). Door-to-door time was broken down into different steps, which were crucial to RT session.

Results:

A total of 594 treatment fractions were monitored. Median treatment time was 22.4 minutes (17.2–30.8) for PMRT and 14.4 minutes (10.9–23.5) for WBRT-SIB. The mean beam-on time accounted for 61.36% of the overall treatment time for PMRT compared to 57% for WBRT-SIB. The beam-on time was a much more time-consuming process.

Conclusion:

This treatment times analysis on the use of IMRT for BC might be useful to organize and improve the workflow efficiency in RT facilities.

Keywords

TomoTherapy adjuvant radiotherapy treatment time breast cancer

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