Background Respiratory gating and proton therapy have both been proposed to reduce the cardiopulmonary burden in breast cancer radiotherapy. This study aims to investigate the additional benefit of proton radiotherapy for breast cancer with and without respiratory gating. Material and methods Twenty left-sided patients were planned on computed tomography (CT)-datasets acquired during enhanced inspiration gating (EIG) and free-breathing (FB), using photon three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy (3D-CRT) and scanned proton beams. Ten patients received treatment to the whole breast only (WBO) and 10 were treated to the breast and the regional lymph nodes (BRN). Dosimetric parameters characterizing the coverage of target volumes and the cardiopulmonary burden were compared using a paired, two-tailed Student's t-test. Results Protons ensured comparable or better target coverage than photons in all patients during both EIG and FB. The heterogeneity index decreased from 12% with photons to about 5% with protons. The mean dose to the ipsilateral lung was reduced in BRN patients from 12 Gy to 7 Gy  (RBE) in EIG and from 14 Gy to 6-7 Gy (RBE) in FB, while for WBO patients all values were about 5-6 Gy (RBE). The mean dose to heart decreased by a factor of four in WBO patients [from 1.1 Gy to 0.3 Gy (RBE) in EIG and from 2.1 Gy to 0.5 Gy (RBE) in FB] and 10 in BRN patients [from 2.1 Gy to 0.2 Gy (RBE) in EIG and from 3.4 Gy to 0.3 Gy (RBE) in FB]. Similarly, the mean and the near maximum dose to the left anterior descending artery (LAD) were significantly lower (p < 0.05) with protons in comparison with photons. Conclusion Proton spot scanning has a high potential to reduce the irradiation of organs at risk and other normal tissues for most patients, beyond what could be achieved with EIG and photon therapy. The largest dose sparing has been seen for BRN patients, both in terms of cardiopulmonary burden and integral dose.

We conclude that radiation-induced microvascular changes in the skin can be objectively measured using novel camera-based techniques before visual changes in the skin are apparent. Objective measurement of microvascular changes in the skin may be valuable in the comparison of skin reactions between different radiation treatments and possibly in predicting acute skin effects at an earlier stage.

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A Monte Carlo model of a proton spot scanning pencil beam was used to simulate organ doses from secondary radiation produced from brain tumour treatments delivered with either a lateral field or a vertex field to one adult and one paediatric patient. Absorbed doses from secondary neutrons, photons and protons and neutron equivalent doses were higher for the vertex field in both patients, but the differences were low in absolute terms. Absorbed doses ranged between 0.1 and 43 μGy.Gy-1 in both patients with the paediatric patient receiving higher doses. The neutron equivalent doses to the organs ranged between 0.5 and 141 μSv.Gy-1 for the paediatric patient and between 0.2 and 134 μSv.Gy-1 for the adult. The highest neutron equivalent dose from the entire treatment was 7 mSv regardless of field setup and patient size. The results indicate that different field setups do not introduce large absolute variations in out-of-field doses produced in patients undergoing proton pencil beam scanning of centrally located brain tumours.

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