Considerations regarding carotid artery dose in radiotherapy of the cervical spine

Carsten Nieder; David McKenzie Grant

doi:10.1016/j.ctro.2022.11.002

Considerations regarding carotid artery dose in radiotherapy of the cervical spine

Clin Transl Radiat Oncol. 2022 Nov 8:38:77-80. doi: 10.1016/j.ctro.2022.11.002. eCollection 2023 Jan.

Authors

Carsten Nieder^{1

2}, David McKenzie Grant¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Oncology and Palliative Medicine, Nordland Hospital, Bodø, Norway.
² Department of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Tromsø, Tromsø, Norway.

Abstract

Radiation to the carotid arteries, e.g. in the context of head and neck cancer treatment, is one of several risk factors for artery stenosis. In principle, this fact may also have implications for stereotactic cervical spine radiotherapy, because long-term survival can be achieved in patients with oligometastatic disease and favorable prognostic features. Here, we suggest that radiation dose distributions with reduced dose to the carotid artery are achievable when planning stereotactic cervical spine radiotherapy. Patients with high likelihood of long-term survival may benefit from such vessel-sparing approaches.

Keywords: Carotid artery; Dose distribution; Organ at risk; Radiotherapy; Spinal metastases; Stereotactic radiation.