Background.

Treatment planning for head and neck (H&N) cancer is complex due to the number of organs at risk (OAR) located near the planning treatment volume (PTV). Distant OAR must also be taken into consideration. Intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) and three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3D-CRT) are both common H&N treatment techniques with very different planning approaches. Although IMRT allows a better dose conformity in PTV, there is much less evidence as to which technique less dose to OAR is delivered. Therefore, the aim of the study was to compare IMRT to 3D-CRT treatment in terms of dose distribution to OAR in H&N cancer.

Patients and methods.

This was a prospective study of a series of 25 patients diagnosed with stage cT 3–4 N 0–2 laryngeal cancer. All patients underwent total laryngectomy and bilateral selective neck dissections. In all cases, patients were treated with IMRT, although a 3D-CRT treatment plan was also developed for the comparative analysis. To compare doses to specific OAR, we developed a new comparative index based on sub-volumes.

Results.

In general, IMRT appears to deliver comparable or greater doses to OAR, although the only significant differences were found in the cerebellum, in which 3D-CRT was found to better spare the organ.

Conclusions.

Organs located outside of the IMRT beam (ie, distant organs) are generally thought to be well-spared. However, the results of this study show that, in the case of the cerebellum, this was not true. This finding suggests that larger studies should be performed to understand the effects of IMRT on distant tissues. Anthropomorphic phantom studies could also confirm these results.