Considerations and Experience in the Treatment of Lung Cancer with VMAT SBRT + DIBH in Arms-Down Position

The arms-up position is the most common treatment position adopted for lung cancer patients treated with radiation therapy. However, many elderly or frail patients have shoulder problems and cannot tolerate such an overstretched position for an extended period. Therefore, the arms-down position becomes the only alternative for this group of patients during radiation therapy. Even though the arms-down position is not ideal, it does provide a stable and comfortable patient immobilization position for radiation treatments that require a longer delivery time, such as stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT). In this study, we designed a protocol to treat lung cancer patients with VMAT stereotactic body radiation therapy (VMAT SBRT) and deep inspiration breath-hold (DIBH) in the arms-down position. Our initial clinical experience with this protocol indicates that it is reliable for patient immobilization and accurate in delivered dosimetry.