Radiotherapy technique

• What should be included in a response about radiotherapy technique?

  Patient position, immobilisation, and prescription
• Why is immobilisation important in radiotherapy?

  It ensures reproducibility of patient positioning
• What does PTV stand for in radiotherapy?

  Planning Target Volume

  
• What does OAR stand for in radiotherapy?

  Organs at Risk
• What are potential side effects of radiotherapy?

  Fatigue, skin irritation, and nausea
• What are the common external beam radiotherapy techniques (EBRT)?

  • Single field techniques
  • Parallel opposed fields
  • 3D conformal radiotherapy (3DCRT)
  • Intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT)
  • Volumetric arc therapy (VMAT)
• What is the first step in the oncology plan?

  Incidence, Epidemiology, Aetiology
• What is the purpose of staging in oncology?

  To determine the extent of disease spread
• How is the prescription for radiotherapy typically formatted?

  Gy in NUMBER fractions over TIME weeks
• What is the significance of the prescription point in radiotherapy?

  It indicates where the dose is delivered
• What is the common dose for single field techniques?

  8 Gy in a single dose
• Why is attention to transverse axial imaging important?

  To ensure lateral extensions are covered
• What does DMAX refer to in radiotherapy?

  Depth of maximum dose
• What is the typical use of mid-plane dose (MPD)?

  For whole brain radiotherapy (WBRT)
• How does parallel opposed technique improve dose distribution?

  It provides a more homogenous dose distribution

  
• What is the role of wedges in EBRT techniques?

  To improve dose uniformity towards a target
• What are the differences between 3DCRT and IMRT?

  3DCRT:

  • Uses static beams
  • Multi-leaf collimators
  • Less complex

  
  

  IMRT:

  • More beams
  • Modulates beam intensity
  • Allows for better conformity to tumors
• What is the purpose of image-guided radiotherapy?

  To ensure geometric accuracy in treatment

  
• What factors are considered in justifying treatment techniques?

  • Prognosis
  • Patient fitness
  • Organ motion
  • Dose
  • Relevant OARs
  • Tumour depth
• What is the significance of patient fitness in treatment justification?

  It affects pain level and immobilisation tolerance