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Background: To evaluate whether the location of moist desquamation matches high dose area for breast cancer patients receiving adjuvant radiotherapy (RT) after breast conservative surgery. Methods: One hundred and nine breast cancer patients were enrolled to this study. Their highest skin dose area (the hot spot) was estimated from the treatment planning. We divided the irradiated field into breast; sternal/ parasternal; axillary; and inframammary fold areas. The location for moist desquamation was recorded to see if it matches the hot spot. We also analyzed other possible risk factors which may be related to the moist desquamation. Results: Forty-eight patients with 65 locations developed moist desquamation during the RT course. Patients with larger breast sizes and easy to sweat are two independent risk factors for moist desquamation. The distribution of moist desquamation occurred most in the axillary area. All nine patients with the hot spots located at the axillary area developed moist desquamation at the axillary area, and six out of seven patients with the hot spots located at the inframammary fold developed moist desquamation there. The majority of patients with moist desquamation over the breast or sternal/parasternal areas had the hot spots located at these areas. Conclusions: For a patient with moist desquamation, if a hot spot is located at the axillary or inframammary fold areas, it is very likely to have moist desquamation occur there. On the other hand, if moist desquamation occurs over the breast or sternal/parasternal areas, we can highly expect these two areas are also the hot spot locations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We conducted this prospective study to evaluate whether the location of the most severe acute skin reaction matches the highest skin dose measured by thermoluminescent dosimeter (TLD) during adjuvant radiotherapy (RT) for patients with breast cancer after breast conservative surgery. To determine whether TLD measurement can reflect the location of the most severe acute skin reaction, 80 consecutive patients were enrolled in this prospective study. We divided the irradiated field into breast, axillary, inframammary fold, and areola/nipple areas. In 1 treatment session when obvious skin reaction occurred, we placed the TLD chips onto the 4 areas and measured the skin dose. We determined whether the highest measured skin dose area is consistent with the location of the most severe skin reaction. The McNemar test revealed that the clinical skin reaction and TLD measurement are more consistent when the most severe skin reaction occurred at the axillary area, and the p = 0.0108. On the contrary, TLD measurement of skin dose is less likely consistent with clinical observation when the most severe skin reaction occurred at the inframammary fold, breast, and areola/nipple areas (all the p > 0.05). Considering the common site of severe skin reaction over the axillary area, TLD measurement may be an appropriate way to predict skin reaction during RT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acute skin reaction during adjuvant radiotherapy for breast cancer is an inevitable process, and its severity is related to the skin dose. A high–skin dose area can be speculated based on the isodose distribution shown on a treatment planning. To determine whether treatment planning can reflect high–skin dose location, 80 patients were collected and their skin doses in different areas were measured using a thermoluminescent dosimeter to locate the highest–skin dose area in each patient. We determined whether the skin dose is consistent with the highest-dose area estimated by the treatment planning of the same patient. The χ 2 and Fisher exact tests revealed that these 2 methods yielded more consistent results when the highest-dose spots were located in the axillary and breast areas but not in the inframammary area. We suggest that skin doses shown on the treatment planning might be a reliable and simple alternative method for estimating the highest skin doses in some areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: To evaluate and compare the dosimetry of field-in-field (FIF) and wedged beams (WB) techniques for patients with breast cancer receiving adjuvant radiotherapy after conservative surgery. A total of 89 patients with breast cancer participated in this study. Each patient received a computed tomography–based treatment plan with opposed tangential fields. Two planning techniques (FIF and WB) were generated for each patient by using the Pinnacle treatment-planning system. Three indices, the homogeneity index (HI), conformity index (CI), and uniformity index (UI), as well as maximum dose (Dmax), median dose (D50), number of portals, monitor unit (MU), and lung volume at 20Gy (lung20) were used for comparison. The mean values tested using a t-test indicated that the WB technique had a significantly lower HI (p < 0.0001), a significantly higher CI (p < 0.0001), and a significantly higher D50 (p = 0.0002) than did the FIF technique. The FIF technique had a significantly higher Dmax compared with the WB technique, but lung20 did not exhibit a significant difference. By contrast, the FIF technique had a significantly higher UI and a significantly lower MU compared with the WB technique, but a significantly higher number of portals were found in the FIF technique. The FIF technique did not demonstrate superior dosimetric results. The WB technique had a significantly lower HI, higher CI, lower Dmax, and lower number of portals; but the FIF technique had a significantly higher UI and lower MU. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]