In vivo evaluating skin doses for lung cancer patients undergoing volumetric modulated arc therapy treatment

This study is the first to use 10- to 90-kg tissue-equivalent phantoms as patient surrogates to measure peripheral skin doses (Dskin) in lung cancer treatment through Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy of the Axesse linac. Five tissue-equivalent and Rando phantoms were used to simulate lung cancer patients using the thermoluminescent dosimetry (TLD-100H) approach. TLD-100H was calibrated using 6 MV photons coming from the Axesse linac. Then it was inserted into phantom positions that closely corresponded with the position of the represented organs and tissues. TLDs were measured using the Harshaw 3500 TLD reader. The ICRP 60 evaluated the mean Dskin to the lung cancer for 1 fraction (7 Gy) undergoing VMAT. The Dskin of these phantoms ranged from 0.51±0.08 (10-kg) to 0.22±0.03 (90-kg) mSv/Gy. Each experiment examined the relationship between the Dskin and the distance from the treatment field. These revealed strong variations in positions close to the tumor center. The correlation between Dskin and body weight was Dskin (mSv) = -0.0034x + 0.5296, where x was phantom's weight in kg. R2 is equal to 0.9788. This equation can be used to derive an equation for lung cancer in males. Finally, the results are compared to other published research. These findings are pertinent to patients, physicians, radiologists, and the public.