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How do you design pelvic lymph node treatment volumes for patients with tortuous or aberrant vascular anatomy?

If electively treating lymph node volumes, do you (for example) cover vessels that deviate far laterally higher in the pelvis, which could result in higher bowel dose? Does this impact your decision of whether or not to cover the volumes electively?
2 Answers
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Radiation Oncology · Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center
Answered on

So much of what we do comes down to a risk-benefit analysis, since it's really not possible to be sure that an individual patient will benefit from a proposed treatment. However, in this situation, if you would offer the treatment if the patient had normal anatomy, then I would offer it in the case ...

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Mednet Member
Mednet MemberInvited Expert
Radiation Oncology
Answered on

In such cases, I would contour the blood vessels in all target regions, including the aberrant vascular anatomy, and expand this contour in the usual fashion (≈7 mm) to produce a CTV. Consistent with prior guidance, I would then subtract out the bowel bag which often overlaps with the CTV, even in p...

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