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Performance evaluation of buildup bolus during external radiotherapy of mastectomy patients: treatment planning and film dosimetry

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Abstract  

A buildup bolus is used during the post-mastectomy radiotherapy (PMRT) to overcome under-dosage issues in the chest wall. The current study is aimed at evaluating the performance of a bolus in dose enhancement through both film dosimetry and treatment planning approaches. Twenty patients were enrolled in current research. The received dose by the skin at the lateral and medial regions of the chest wall in the presence and absence bolus was evaluated. Film dosimetry results showed that the presence of the bolus can averagely increase the skin dose by about 80% (P value < 0.001) and 92% (P value < 0.001) in lateral and medial regions, respectively. No significant difference was observed between the measured and treatment planning system (TPS)-calculated dose values in the presence of bolus. The presence of the bolus can considerably increase the absorbed dose by superficial chest wall regions. The TPS shows a favorable performance in superficial dose calculations in the presence of the buildup bolus.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Physics Department, Hakim Sabzevari University, Sabzevar, Iran

    Fahimeh Sadat Hosseini & Hamid Reza Baghani

  2. Medical Physics and Radiological Sciences Department, Sabzevar University of Medical Sciences, Sabzevar, Iran

    Mostafa Robatjazi

  3. Department of Physics, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

    Ali Asghar Mowlavi

  4. Radiation Oncology Department, Sabzevar University of Medical Sciences, Sabzevar, Iran

    Pejman Porouhan

Authors
  1. Fahimeh Sadat Hosseini
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  2. Hamid Reza Baghani
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  3. Mostafa Robatjazi
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  4. Ali Asghar Mowlavi
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  5. Pejman Porouhan
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Contributions

Fahimeh Sadat Hosseini: methodology, software, validation, investigation, and data curation.

Hamid Reza Baghani: conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, resource, writing—original draft, writing—review and editing, supervision, and project administration.

Mostafa Robatjazi: conceptualization, methodology, resource, and writing—review and editing, supervision, and project administration.

Ali Asghar Mowlavi: resource, writing—review and editing, supervision, and project administration.

Pezhman Poruhan: resource, writing—review and editing, and project administration.

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Correspondence to Hamid Reza Baghani.

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Hosseini, F.S., Baghani, H.R., Robatjazi, M. et al. Performance evaluation of buildup bolus during external radiotherapy of mastectomy patients: treatment planning and film dosimetry. Med Biol Eng Comput 61, 435–444 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11517-022-02721-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11517-022-02721-x

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