A leap into clinical practice: Accurate treatment planning in presence of metallic implants
Patients with metallic implant who receive radiotherapy need dedicated procedures. The first issue to overcome is misrepresentation of CT image caused by artifacts. This could affects the entire radiotherapy process, in particular the process of anatomical structures contouring. There are several metal artifact reduction methods such as an algorithms, the dual-energy method and the use of MVCT. The second issue concerns the ability of the treatment planning system to cope with presence of high density material. This can lead to significant errors in dose calculation at specific volumes. The aim of this teaching lecture is to present current state and knowledge as well as and routine clinical practice related to patient with metallic implants treated with photons or protons beams.
Teaching Lecture