Abstract:
The goal of treatment planning for cancer radiotherapy is to adequately treat the patient's tumor volume while minimizing dose to healthy peritumoral tissue. Most often this planning is accomplished with the use of computer models that calculate dose distributions within a patient based upon the characteristics of the prescribed external beam(s). At the Ball Memorial Hospital (BMH) Cancer Center, such a system is currently employed for planning conventional teletherapy treatments. Recently, however, the Cancer Center adopted a specialized teletherapy technique that demands a targeting accuracy one order of magnitude greater than conventional radiotherapy. This procedure, called stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), is used to treat cranial lesions with a single, high dose of radiation. For planning such treatments, specialized systems are available for purchase, but at a significant price. Outsourcing the task of SRS planning is also a viable option. However, in-house planning is preferable for the sake of convenience and flexibility in the treatment planning process. At the BMH Cancer Center, an inexpensive in-house modality for SRS treatment planning is currently sought. The intent of this work is, therefore, to propose a model for SRS treatment planning that is adapted from the framework of the existing conventional teletherapy system.