OBJECTIVE To assess the impact of CT slice index and thickness (3 mm versus 5 mm) on (i) prostate volume, dimensions, and isocenter coordinates, (ii) bladder and rectal volumes, and (iii) DRR quality, in the treatment of prostate cancer. METHODS 16 patients with prostate cancer underwent two planning CT-scans using 3 and 5 mm slice index/thickness. Prostate, bladder, and rectum were outlined ...

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of the HIPO planning and optimization algorithm for real-time prostate HDR brachytherapy. This study consists of 20 patients who underwent ultrasound-based real-time HDR brachytherapy of the prostate using the treatment planning system called Oncentra Prostate (SWIFT version 3.0). The treatment plans for all patients were optimized u...

This paper attempts to provide an answer to some questions that remain either poorly understood, or not well documented in the literature, on basic issues related to intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT). The questions examined are: the relationship between degeneracy and frequency response of optimizations, effects of initial beamlet fluence assignment and stopping point, what does filt...

Definitive treatment for cervical cancer most often consists of fractionated external beam radiotherapy combined with multi-fraction intracavitary brachytherapy. CT imaging in gynaecological brachytherapy treatment planning has been widely used in the past decade. With the advantages of image-based treatment planning and the commercial treatment planning software tools available, it is possible...

PURPOSE Intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) treatment plan quality depends on the planner's level of experience and the amount of time the planner invests in developing the plan. Planners often unwittingly accept plans when further sparing of the organs at risk (OARs) is possible. The authors propose a method of IMRT treatment plan quality control that helps planners to evaluate the do...

Introduction Accurate estimation of the skin-absorbed dose in external radiation therapy is essential to estimating the probability of secondary carcinogenesis induction Materials and Methods Electron contamination in prostate radiotherapy was investigated using the Monte Carlo (MC) code calculation. In addition, field size dependence of the skin dose was assessed. Excess cancer risk induced by...