Figure 1

Treatment plans: (a) PTV and contoured structures at risk of the rat with selected organs shown (heart, left and right lungs, left and right kidneys). (b–d) Dose distributions with isodose curves for VMAT and AP/PA irradiation; (b,c) posterior and transversal views. (d) Dose levels for the different dose regions HDV: 90–107%, BHDV: 50–90%, LDV: 5–50%, and NIRV: <5%. (e) DVHs for VMAT (solid lines) and AP/PA (dashed lines): PTV (red), heart (yellow), lungs (turquoise/magenta), kidneys (blue/orange: barely visible due to very low integral dose); (f) DVHs for the PTV (red) and the thoracic subvolume outside the PTV (brown; ‘patient’); (g) tumor detection using a dual-source high-resolution CT scanner (arrows indicate tumor affected tissues); (h) histological section of tumor (malignant mesothelioma) invading the bordering lymphatic gland and connective tissues (H&E stain; scale bar: 200 µm). Abbreviations: DVHs, dose-volume histograms; PTV, planning target volume; VMAT, volumetric-modulated arc therapy; AP/PA, anterior-posterior/posterior-anterior; Gy, Gray; AN/CBCT, anesthesia only and cone-beam computed tomography only control groups combined, HDV, high-dose volume; BHDV, bordering high-dose volume; LDV, low-dose volume; NIRV, non-irradiated volume; H&E, hematoxilin & eosin.