Deep inspiration breath-hold technique in left-sided breast cancer radiation therapy: Evaluating cardiac contact distance as a predictor of cardiac exposure for patient selection

DIBH is a simple and highly effective technique to reduce cardiac exposure without compromising target coverage. FB-CCDps is potentially a very good predictor for cardiac exposure: the longer the FB-CCDps, the higher the dose. Our findings suggest that at least 75% of patients with left-sided breast cancer might benefit from the DIBH technique in terms of potentially clinically relevant dose reduction to cardiac structures, and therefore, it should be instituted as routine clinical practice.