A comparison between surgical scar and clips-guided treatment plans in

OBJECTIVES: In general, breast electron boost treatment planning is made using surgical scars or clips placed in the tumor bed. The aim of this study was to compare these two treatments plans in terms of dose optimization. METHODS: Twenty-five patients who had surgical clips placed in the tumor bed during tumor excision were evaluated. At first, surgical clips were not taken into account in these patients (type I). In the secondary stage, the treatment plan (type II) was performed considering surgical clips. Taking type II treatment plan as a basis, type I treatment plan was compared in terms of energy, field size, gantry angle, collimator angle and field center parameters. RESULTS: When compared with Type I plan, changes were observed in the electron energy used in the treatment of 12 patients, the electron fields of 20 patients, the gantry angles of 12 patients, the collimator angles of 6 patients and the field centers of 18 patients when surgical clips were considered. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates that in breast boost irradiation, conformal planning made using CT slices was preferred to obtain optimum dose distribution at the target volume.