Comparative treatment planning using secondary cancer mortality calculations

Calculations of mortality due to secondary cancer have been investigated for its use in comparative treatment planning. A patient with Hodgkin's disease has been chosen as an example and has been planned with different radiation treatment modalities using photons and protons. The ICRP calculation scheme has been used to calculate mortality from dose distributions. To this purpose target volumes as well as critical structures have been outlined in the CT set of a patient with Hodgkin's disease. Dose distributions have been calculated using conventional as well as intensity modulated treatment techniques using photon and proton radiation. From the mean doses of each organ the mortality has been derived. Our work suggests that calculations of mortality can be useful in comparative treatment planning. Such mortality calculations can be helpful to find decisions between radiotherapy treatment techniques (intensity modulated or conventional treatment) or between different types of radiation (photons, electrons, protons, neutrons).