Preliminary experience of helical tomotherapy for locally advanced pancreatic cancer

Radiotherapy for locally advanced pancreatic cancer is technically difficult and frequently associated with high-grade digestive toxicity. Helical tomotherapy (HT) is a new irradiation modality that combines megavoltage computed tomography imaging for patient positioning with intensity-modulated fan-beam radiotherapy. Its recent availability opens new fields of exploration for pancreatic radiotherapy as a result of its ability to tailor very well-defined dose distributions around the target volumes. Here, we report the use of HT in two patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer. Doses to the bowel, kidneys and liver were reduced significantly, which allowed for excellent treatment tolerance without any high-grade adverse effects in either patient.