Robotic stereotactic radioablation of breast tumors: Influence of beam size on the absorbed dose distributions

Robotic stereotactic radioablation (RSR) therapy for breast tumors has been shown to be an effective treatment strategy when applied concomitantly with chemotherapy, with the purpose of reducing the tumor volume thus making it more amenable for breast conserving surgery. In this paper we used Monte Carlo simulation within a realistic patient model to determine the influence that the variation in beam collimation radius has on the resultant absorbed dose distributions for this type of treatment. Separate optimized plans were obtained for treatments using 300 circular beams with radii of 0.5 cm, 0.75 cm, 1.0 cm and 1.5 cm. Cumulative dose volume histograms were obtained for the gross, clinical and planning target volumes as well as for eight organs and structures at risk. Target coverage improves as the collimator size is increased, at the expense of increasing the volume of healthy tissue receiving mid-level absorbed doses. Interestingly, it is found that the maximum dose imparted to the skin is highly dependent on collimator size, while the dosimetry of other structures, such as both the ipsilateral and contralateral lung tissue are basically unaffected by a change in beam size.