Premium
The role of medical physicists and the AAPM in the development of treatment planning and optimization
Author(s) -
Orton Colin G.,
Bortfeld Thomas R.,
Niemierko Andrzej,
Unkelbach Jan
Publication year - 2008
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 - 10.1118/1.2990777
Subject(s) - radiation treatment planning , medical physicist , medical physics , medical imaging , computer science , medical radiation , radiation therapy , systems engineering , medicine , engineering , artificial intelligence , radiology
Developments in radiotherapy treatment planning and optimization by medical physicists and the American Association of Physicists in Medicine are reviewed, with emphasis on recent work in optimization. It is shown that medical physicists have played a vital role in the creation of innovative treatment planning techniques throughout the past century, most significantly since the advent of computerized tomography for three‐dimensional (3D) imaging and high‐powered computers capable of 3D planning and optimization. Some early advances in 3D planning made by physicists include development of novel planning algorithms, beam's‐eye‐view, virtual simulation, dose‐volume histogram analysis tools, and bioeffect modeling. Most of the recent developments have been driven by the need to develop treatment planning for conformal radiotherapy, especially intensity modulated radiation therapy. These advances include inverse planning, handling the effects of motion and uncertainty, biological planning, and multicriteria optimization.