Journal of Experimental & Clinical Cancer Research 2009, 28:2 http://www.jeccr.com/content/28/1/2 Conclusion In palliative spinal bone irradiation, 2D conventional sin- gle posterior field radiotherapy did not accomplish the ICRU Report 50 recommendations for PTV dose distribu- tion, however, two opposed AP-PA field treatment plans did achieve the intended dose ranges with a homogenous dose distribution and reasonable doses to the medulla spinalis, esophagus and intestines. In patients with long life-expectancies, care must be taken to obtain a homogenous dose distribution throughout the target volume and conformal treatment plans rather than single field treatment plans should be considered in these patients. Abbreviations 3D: three-dimensional; 2D: two-dimensional; ICRU: International Commission on Radiation Units and Meas- urements; ICRUrp: the International Commission on Radiation Units and Measurements reference point; IBM- Crp: the International Bone Metastasis Consensus Work- ing Party reference point; AP-PA: two opposed anterior- posterior fields; PTV: planning target volume; CTV: clini- cal target volume; TPS: treatment planning system; DVH: dose-volume histograms; SD: standard deviation. Competing interests The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Authors' contributions FA conceived of the study, coordinated the study, helped acquisition of data, performed the statistical analysis and draft the manuscript. SB has performed treatment plans, participated in acquisition of data and helped to draft the manuscript. YO has performed treatment plans, partici- pated in acquisition of data and helped to draft the man- uscript. 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