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Aperture generation based on threshold segmentation for intensity modulated radiotherapy treatment planning
Author(s) -
Yang Jie,
Gui Zhiguo,
Zhang Liyuan,
Zhang Pengcheng
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
medical physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.473
H-Index - 180
eISSN - 2473-4209
pISSN - 0094-2405
DOI - 10.1002/mp.12819
Subject(s) - radiation treatment planning , optics , radiation therapy , intensity (physics) , segmentation , aperture (computer memory) , image segmentation , medical physics , dosimetry , medical imaging , computer science , nuclear medicine , physics , artificial intelligence , medicine , radiology , acoustics
Purpose To reduce computation and decrease planning time with little or no loss in plan quality compared to the column‐generation‐based ( cg ) method, a simple method of aperture generation based on threshold segmentation ( agts ) is proposed. Methods The proposed agts strategy consists of two steps. First, a fuzzy controller is used for noise cancellation; then, new apertures are added using the threshold segmentation algorithm. We tested the proposed method on seven prostate tumor cases using the computational environment for radiotherapy research algorithms for the dose calculations and compared the results with those obtained by generating the plan aperture using the cg method. Specifically, the homogeneity index and conformity number of the planning target volume, organs at risk ( OAR s) sparing, and total planning time were compared among the two methods. Results The proposed agts technique produced treatment plans approximating the cg solution. Furthermore, the planning time required by the agts method was approximately 58.61% ± 0.40 less than that required by the cg method. Conclusions The agts algorithm can decrease planning time with little or no loss in plan quality compared to the cg method.