First clinical experience with real-time portal imaging-based breath-hold monitoring in tangential breast radiotherapy

Background and purpose: Real-time treatment monitoring with the electronic portal imaging device (EPID) can conceptually provide a more accurate assessment of the quality of deep inspiration breath-hold (DIBH) and patient movement during tangential breast radiotherapy (RT). A system was developed to measure two geometrical parameters, the lung depth (LD) and the irradiated width (named here skin distance, SD), along three user-selected lines in MV EPID images of breast tangents. The purpose of this study was to test the system during tangential breast RT with DIBH. Materials and methods: Measurements of LDs and SDs were carried out in real time. DIBH was guided with a commercial system using a marker block. Results from 17 patients were assessed. Mean midline LDs, , per tangent were compared to the planned mLDs; differences between the largest and smallest observed () per tangent were calculated. Results: For 56% (162/288) of the tangents tested, were outside the tolerance window. All but one patient had at least one fraction showing this behaviour. The largest difference found between an and its planned mLD was −16.9 mm. The accuracy of patient positioning and the quality of marker-block-based DIBH guidance contributed to the differences. Fractions with patient position verification using a single EPID image taken before treatment showed a lower rate (34%), suggesting reassessment of setup procedures. Conclusions: Real-time treatment monitoring of the internal anatomy during DIBH delivery of tangential breast RT is feasible and useful. The new system requires no additional radiation for the patient