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Analytic evaluation of depths of dose calculation points for external beam radiation therapy treatment planning
Author(s) -
Starkschall George
Publication year - 1985
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 - 10.1118/1.595675
Subject(s) - intersection (aeronautics) , contour line , point (geometry) , line (geometry) , mathematics , series (stratigraphy) , fourier transform , dosimetry , optics , fourier series , geometry , mathematical analysis , physics , nuclear medicine , geology , medicine , paleontology , meteorology , engineering , aerospace engineering
A method has been developed to calculate the depth of a point in a patient contour analytically. In this method, the patient contour is approximated by a Fourier series comprising 5–10 terms. The depth of a calculation point is the distance between the calculation point and the intersection of the ray line with the contour line. Depth calculations using this method are compared with calculations using a more conventional method in which the intersection is found by representing the contour as a set of straight‐line segments between pairs of contour points. This method gives depth values comparable in accuracy to the more conventional method and computed approximately twice as fast.