In the Netherlands, about 2,300 people per year are diagnosed with a malignant tumor in the head and neck region. About 450 of them are referred to the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre. Most of them undergo radiotherapy, either as a sole treatment, or in combination with surgery or chemotherapy. As part of the tailored radiation therapy most patients will be treated with Intensity Mod...

INTRODUCTION Inverse-planned intensity modulated radiation therapy (IP-IMRT) has potential benefits over other techniques for tangential intact breast radiotherapy. Possible benefits include increased homogeneity, faster planning time, less inter-planner variability and lower doses to organs at risk (OAR). We therefore conducted a pilot study of previously treated intact breast patients to comp...

During a course of fractionated radiation therapy and between the fractions the tissues of the human body may move relative to some reference location in which the radiation therapy was planned. This has been known for over a century and simple 'coping mechanisms' (margins) have been used to approximately compensate. Since the introduction of highly accurate conformal radiation therapy and inte...

Intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) can be very effective in the treatment of primary tumours. The challenge in therapy planning is to develop treatment plans that allow effective treatment of the tumour while at the same time limiting the radiation dose to surrounding tissue and organs at risk. We present a mathematical model of inverse planning for IMRT. The task of such a tool is to...