Heart dose reduction by prone deep inspiration breath hold in left-sided breast irradiation

Abstract Background and purpose Cardiac disease has been related to heart dose after left-sided breast radiotherapy. This trial evaluates the heart sparing ability and feasibility of deep inspiration breath hold (DIBH) in the prone position for left-sided whole breast irradiation (WBI). Materials and methods Twelve patients underwent CT-simulation in supine shallow breathing (SB), supine DIBH, prone SB and prone DIBH. A validation cohort of 38 patients received prone SB and prone DIBH CT-scans; the last 30 patients were accepted for prone DIBH treatment. WBI was planned with a prescription dose of 40.05Gy. Results DIBH was able to reduce ( p p Conclusions This trial demonstrates the ability and feasibility of prone DIBH to acquire optimal heart and lung sparing for left-sided WBI.