Dose-volume histogram constrains for small intestine in postoperative transcutaneous radiotherapy of endometrial carcinoma: comparison between conventional and conformal techniques

Abstract

Introduction: The aim of this study was to determine the dose-volume histogram (DVH) constrains of conventional and conformal transcutaneous radiotherapy for small intestine and perform their comparison.
Methods: This retrospective-prospective study included patients who were treated for endometrial cancer using conventional transcutaneous radiotherapy at the Department of Radiotherapy Clinic of Oncology,
Hematology and Radiotherapy, University Clinical Center Tuzla in the period from 2009 to 2011. The study was performed on patients of all ages suffering from this condition. The study involved 35 patients. DVH
parameters which were analyzed are: minimum dose (Dmin), maximum dose (Dmax), medium dose (Daver) of the small intestine, as well as the volume of the small intestine, which is included in 75%, 95% and 100%
dose (V33,75Gy, V42,75Gy, V45Gy) expressed in percentages and cubic centimeters of the affected organ. Working hypothesis was tested with paired t test. The difference between the variables at the level of p <0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Results: DVH constrains of transcutaneous conformal radiotherapy showed signifi cantly smaller dose contribution on small intestine than DVH parameters of conventional transcutaneous radiotherapy (p<0.0001).
Conclusion: The dose contribution on small intestine was signifi cantly lower by planning three-dimensional conformal transcutaneous radiotherapy in comparison to the conventional planning.