Intensity Modulated Arc Therapy (IMAT) vs. IMRT in glottic cancer: a treatment planning comparison on conventional linac

Previous advanced radiation therapy (RT) techniques for earlystage glottic cancer attempted to spare the normal tissue. We aimed to evaluate the dosimetric advantages of intensity modulated arc therapy (IMAT) in terms of increase target tumor dose and sparing normal tissue hand-dose in early-stage glottic cancer patients. In our previous published paper, we explored the application of conventional linear accelerator IMAT technology in large-scale tumors of cervical cancer and elongate target areas of esophageal cancer. The purpose of this study is to investigate using constant dose rate IMAT on conventional linear accelrator, by comparing with the IMRT technology to evaluate the performance of IMAT on early-stage glottic carcinoma patients and then provide guidance for clinical treatment. The results show that glottic carcinoma can be implemented IMAT plans on conventional Linac for smoothly and quickly at busy cancer center. IMAT planning can meet the clinical demand, showed significant dosimetric benefits in sparing both the thyroid gland and carotid artery. Compared with IMRT, IMAT plan has more MUs and less treatment time and significantly improves the treatment efficiency. An evaluation of weight loss must be performed during treatment for IMAT patients.