Whole body radiotherapy: A TBI-guideline

Total Body Irradiation (TBI) is one main component in the interdisciplinary treatment of widely disseminated malignancies predominantly of haematopoietic diseases. Combined with intensive chemotherapy, TBI enables myeloablative high dose therapy and immuno-ablative conditioning treatment prior to subsequent transplantation of haematopoietic stem cells: bone marrow stem cells or peripheral blood progenitor stem cells. Jointly prepared by DEGRO and DGMP, the German Society of Radio-Oncology, and the German Association of Medical Physicists, this DEGRO/DGMP-Leitlinie Ganzkoerper-Strahlenbehandlung - DEGRO/DGMP Guideline Whole Body Radiotherapy, summarises the concepts, principles, facts and common methods of Total Body Irradiation and poses a set of recommendations for reliable and successful application of high dose large-field radiotherapy as essential part of this interdisciplinary, multi-modality treatment concept. The guideline is geared towards radio-oncologists, medical physicists, haematooncolo-gists, and all contributing to Whole Body Radiotherapy. To guide centres intending to start or actualise TBI criteria are included. The relevant treatment parameters are defined and a sample of a form is given for reporting TBI to international registries.