Prone Positioning With Deep Inspiration Breath Hold for Left Breast Radiotherapy

Outcomes for early-stage breast cancer are improving. We investigated the combination of prone position and deep inspiration breath-hold to decrease cardiac doses for left-sided breast radiotherapy. Fifteen patients were enrolled. The average mean heart dose was significantly reduced with prone breath-hold compared with prone free breathing. Breath-hold may provide additional cardiac dose reduction with prone left-breast radiotherapy. Background: With advances in treatment, outcomes for early-stage breast cancer are improving. We investigated the combination of prone position and deep inspiration breath hold to decrease cardiac doses for left-sided breast radiotherapy. Material and Methods: Fifteen patients with left-sided breast cancer were enrolled on a single-institution prospective study. Each patient underwent 2 prone positioned computed tomography simulation scans utilizing free breathing and breath-hold. Separate treatment plans for each computed tomography simulation scan were created using tangential fields, and heart and left lung doses were compared between free breathing and breath-hold plans. The technique with the lower mean dose for the heart was used for treatment. All patients were treated with a hypofractionated regimen of 40 to 42 Gy in 15 to 16 fractions, followed by a lumpectomy cavity boost of 10 Gy in 5 fractions when indicated. Wilcoxon paired signed rank tests and paired t tests were performed for statistical analysis of dosimetric endpoints. Results: The median age of our patients was 58 years (range, 40-72 years). One patient was not able to tolerate prone positioning at simulation, leaving 14 patients with evaluable paired scans. The average mean heart dose with free breathing and with breath-hold was 0.93 Gy and 0.72 Gy, respectively (P=.0063). The average max heart dose with free breathing and with breath-hold was 15.70 Gy and 7.19 Gy, respectively (P=.001). The average mean left lung dose with free breathing and with breath-hold was 0.65 Gy and 0.88 Gy, respectively (P=.011). Conclusions: Our results indicate that breath-hold using the real-time position management system may provide additional cardiac dose reduction in patients receiving prone left-breast radiotherapy treated with tangential fields. (C) 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The combination of prone position and deep inspiration breath-hold can significantly reduce cardiac doses for left-sided breast radiotherapy, providing additional benefit for patients with early-stage breast cancer.