Dosimetric evaluation of the skin-sparing effects of 3-dimensional conformal radiotherapy and intensity-modulated radiotherapy for left breast cancer

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the skin-sparing effects of 3-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3D-CRT) and intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) in patients with early left-sided breast cancer. Twenty left breast cancer patients treated with whole breast radiotherapy following breast-conserving surgery were enrolled in this study, and the 3D-CRT and IMRT plans were generated for each patient. To evaluate the dose delivered to the skin, 2 mm thickness skin (2-mm skin) and 3 mm thickness skin (3-mm skin) were contoured and a dosimetric comparison between the 2 plans was performed. The target volume coverage was better in IMRT than in 3D-CRT. The mean dose was 50.8 Gy for 3D-CRT and 51.1 Gy for IMRT. V40Gy was 99.4% for 3D-CRT and 99.9% for IMRT. In the case of skin, the mean dose was higher in 3D-CRT than in IMRT (mean dose of 2-mm skin: 32.8 Gy and 24.2 Gy; mean dose of 3-mm skin: 37.2 Gy and 27.8 Gy, for 3D-CRT and IMRT, respectively). These results indicated that the skin-sparing effect is more prominent in IMRT compared to 3D-CRT without compromising the target volume coverage.