Two-Year Clinical Experience With Tomotherapy: The French National Cancer Institute Project on Implementing New Technology

Abstract

The pooled 2-year clinical experience using three tomotherapy units installed in France in 2007 is presented. Treatment indications and protocols were devised for each disease site and were the result of a consensus. A total of 642 patients were treated for central nervous system, head and neck, thoracic, abdominal, and pelvic tumors. Overall, grade 3, 4, and 5 acute toxicity was 10.7%, 0.3%, and 0.2%, respectively. Grade 3 chronic toxicity was 1.2%. There was no grade 4 or 5 chronic toxicity. The use of tomotherapy in a broad clinical practice is safe, and acute and chronic toxicity both are acceptable for all anatomical locations.

Keywords: :

• Image-guided radiotherapy
• Intensity-modulated radiotherapy
• Tomotherapy
• Toxicity
• Treatment

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank all physicians, physicists, and therapists who helped in the success of this project. The authors would also like to thank the Institut National du Cancer for their support, especially Mrs Beauvais-March and Dr Bara.