Anterior eye protection with orbital neoplasia

The administration of adequate doses of radiation to tumors involving the orbit and surrounding facial structures and sinuses is often complicated by the need to protect the sensitive ocular components, the lens and cornea. A technique has been devised that uses four photon beam fields and an optional electron field to treat the contents of both orbits and adjacent sinuses with effective, reproducible protection of cornea and lens. Essential features include: alignment of the corneal surfaces with the central plane of rotation of the treatment machine, use of a narrow eye block across the entire beam to shield a strip equal to the width of the cornea, positioned symmetrically across the central plane of rotation, fine alignment of the eye block with both corneal surfaces by altering pedestal angle, treatment with paired, wedged, anterior oblique fields to encompass desired orbital and sinus volumes with additional blocking placed as needed, and complementary, lateral strip fields using collimators set to eye block thickness to equalize dose in the posterior orbit shielded by the strip eye block. A similar anterior electron beam strip field may be added to boost the medial orbit and ethmoid regions covered by the eye block. Bite block head immobilization and easy, direct daily visualization of block position assures eye protection for each treatment and provides substantial reduction in dose to the cornea, lens and iris. Additional blocking may be incorporated to provide partial lacrimal and parotid sparing.