Experimental Evaluation of the Impact of Different Head-and-Neck Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy Planning Techniques on Doses to the Skin and Shallow Targets

Conclusions: It is useful to use skin as a sensitive structure, but a minimum dose constraint must be used for the PTV if unwanted reductions in dose to nodes near the body surface are to be avoided. Setup uncertainties are unlikely to give excessive reductions in cumulative dose.