Title: Breathing controlled cardiac sparing for pa ents undergoing le sided breast radiotherapy, theory and prac ce of a voluntary inspira on breath-hold technique (VIBH)

Biography:

Hayes Jillian has graduated from Trinity College Dublin (University of Dublin) in 2003 with fi rst class honours. She has worked interna onally and regionally as a radia on therapist and completed her master’s degree whilst working full- me at the front line of NHS pa ent care service at the Royal Marsden NHS Founda on Trust, London. She has achieved many commenda ons for her academic and professional pursuits and has much experience presen ng clinical research and prac ce interna onall

Abstract

Due to the overall improvements in breast cancer treatment, long-term cause specifi c survival has improved signifi cantly over the past few decades. Radiotherapy is an essen al component of mul modal breast cancer treatment. However, with the increasing use of radiotherapy and the larger number of women surviving for many years a er treatment, more pa ents are at risk of developing chronic toxici es associated with their care. In par cular, toxici es to the heart carry the poten al for reduced survival. In conven onal breast radiotherapy the pa ent is breathing freely, however, several techniques have recently been used to reduce the volume of cardiac  ssue in the radia on fi eld. Amongst them is Voluntary Inspira on Breath Hold (VIBH), where the pa ent holds a quan fi ed inspira on for the dura on of treatment delivery. By holding inspira on during beam on, the distance between the chest wall and cardiac structures is increased (Fig 1). This increased distance can be exploited in order to reduce the radia on dose received by the heart. VIBH is an evidence based, simple, inexpensive, and equipment free breath holding technique, with proven inter and intrafrac on reproducibility. Breath hold consistency is monitored prior to and during radiotherapy delivery by means
of in room treatment lasers and imaging. Dosimetric studies demonstrate a reduc on in dose to cardiac  ssue when VIBH is applied without compromise of target volume coverage. This presenta on presents background analysis of the need for cardiac sparing techniques in le  sided breast radiotherapy along with prac cal insights with respect to its real  me clinical applica on of the VIBH technique.