What is the best position of the arms in mantle field for Hodgkin's disease?

Purpose: To evaluate the best position of the arms in mantle field for Hodg kin's disease. Methods and Materials: In 12 patients, with surgical clips placed at the ti me of an axillary dissection for breast cancer, the radiological projection of the clips according to three arm positions was prospectively evaluated: akimbo (A), extended (E), and up over the head (U), The surgical clips wer e arbitrarily separated into two groups: lower and upper. In each patient, the distance between the surgical clips and chest wall was measured, and th e possibility of shielding the lungs and humeral heads was evaluated. Results: The mean displacement of the lower clips away from the chest wall when the patients were in A, E, and U positions was 2.5, 3.0, and 4.6 cm, r espectively. The upper group clips showed a lower difference in distance fr om chest wall. In the U position, there was always a clip of the lower grou p that projected over the humeral head, making it impossible to block this structure. Conclusion: In the A position, there is the possibility of blocking the hum eral head, but it is necessary to irradiate more lung parenchyma, Type E tr eatment setup allows the shielding of both lung and humeral head, while mai ntaining adequate margins around the axillary nodes, In the U position, the re is a greater possibility of shielding the lung parenchyma, but it is imp ossible to block the humeral heads. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Inc.