| Schedule | Constraint | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Conventional fractionation 70 Gy / 35 fx definitive · 60–66 Gy / 30–33 fx post-op | Max ≤60 Gy | Emami 2013 |
| NPC or perineural spread: D0.03 cc ≤65 Gy (T1–T2), ≤70 Gy (T3–T4) | Lee 2019 NPC guideline |
Quoted from eviQ 5049, checked 2026-09-24. Full table with references →
The lower part of each cerebral hemisphere, resting in the middle cranial fossa directly above the skull base and lateral to the cavernous sinus.
The temporal lobes handle hearing and understanding language, recognizing faces and objects, and memory — the hippocampus, important for forming new memories, sits on the inner side of each lobe.
Temporal lobe necrosis is a known late effect of nasopharynx radiotherapy, where the target often reaches the skull base just beneath the lobes. For this reason nasopharynx-specific guidance allows different limits depending on T stage, trading a small risk to the lobes against coverage of disease at the skull base.
Brouwer 2015 lists the temporal lobe as beyond its scope. Sun 2014, an open-access atlas for nasopharynx cancer, gives these boundaries (Table 3):
Sun 2014 includes the hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus and uncus, and excludes the basal ganglia and insula. Some other methods leave the hippocampus out, so check which your protocol uses. Contour each side separately.
Consensus CT delineation guidelines for head and neck organs at risk from eight cooperative groups, with anatomical descriptions and example images. Citation checked against Crossref; content not yet reviewed by DoseLab.
Compares published contouring methods for the temporal lobe, middle and inner ear, parotid gland and spinal cord in nasopharynx cancer, recommends one method for each (Table 3), and provides a CT–MRI atlas of 33 organs at risk. Citation checked against Crossref; the temporal lobe and spinal cord recommendations were read in the open-access full text.