International journal of radiation oncology, biology, physics
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Int. J. Radiat. Oncol. Biol. Phys. · Feb 2007
Optimized coverage of high-risk adjuvant lymph node areas in prostate cancer using a sentinel node-based, intensity-modulated radiation therapy technique.
Irradiation of adjuvant lymph nodes in high-risk prostate cancer was shown to be associated with improved rates of biochemical nonevidence of disease in the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group trial (RTOG 94-13). To account for the highly individual lymphatic drainage pattern we tested an intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) approach based on the determination of pelvic sentinel lymph nodes (SN). ⋯ Distributions of SN are highly variable. Data for SN derived from single photon emission computed tomography are easily integrated into an IMRT-based treatment strategy. By using SN data the probability of a geographic miss is reduced. The use of IMRT allows sparing of normal tissue irradiation.