Matsumoto Yoshitsugu, Umezu Yoshiyuki, Fujibuchi Toshioh, Noguchi Yoshitaka, Fukunaga Jyunichi, Kimura Tomoko, Hirano Naomi, Hirose Takaaki, Sonoda Shinjiro, Matsumoto Ryoji
Division of Radiology, Department of Medical Technology, Kyushu University Hospital.
Nihon Hoshasen Gijutsu Gakkai Zasshi. 2014 Sep;70(9):883-7. doi: 10.6009/jjrt.2014_jsrt_70.9.883.
In postoperative radiotherapy for seminoma, control of the testicular absorbed dose is important, since exposure of the testis can lead to temporary or permanent infertility. In this case, instead of using a dog-leg-shaped field, treatment using a field focused near the aorta was provided in several disease stages of seminoma. However, the precise need for testicular shielding during treatment and dose of testis exposure was not clear. We examined these questions by measuring the testicular absorbed dose with and without a testicular shield using two clinical treatment plans and a phantom. The distance from the testis phantom and the lower end of the irradiation field was varied. Where the total dose for the tumor was 20 Gy, the testicular absorbed dose was below 0.1 Gy, the threshold dose for temporary infertility. At this dosage, the distance between the testis phantom and the edge of the irradiation field was 14.6 cm without the shield and 9.99 cm with the shield. Using a testes shield, it was thus possible to reduce the dose by 58.5%.
