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Dose‐surface histograms as treatment planning tool for prostate conformal therapy
Author(s) -
Lu Y.,
Li S.,
Spelbring D.,
Song P.,
Vijayakumar S.,
Pelizzari C.,
Chen G. T. Y.
Publication year - 1995
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 - 10.1118/1.597451
Subject(s) - dose volume histogram , histogram , radiation treatment planning , prostate , rectum , dosimetry , nuclear medicine , medicine , volume (thermodynamics) , biomedical engineering , mathematics , computer science , radiation therapy , artificial intelligence , radiology , surgery , physics , cancer , quantum mechanics , image (mathematics)
Dose‐surface histograms are studied and compared with dose‐volume histograms, as an evaluation tool for prostate treatment planning. For thin walled hollow organs, such as the rectum and bladder, the surface area irradiated is a more appropriate measure of the biological effect than the full volume. It is also more accurate and efficient to define the surface for a hollow structure and compute the surface area histograms. Application of the dose‐surface histograms provide new insights into prostate treatment planning. A simple idealized geometry model demonstrates that the percentage surface area intersected by the geometric beam edge differs from the percentage volume intersected. For a group of prostate patients, it is shown that the dose‐surface histograms yield substantially different results from the dose‐volume histograms in ranking four‐, six‐, and, eight‐field treatment plans and in calculating the fraction of the rectum irradiated to high dose. The difference in terms of surface area between these plans in the high‐dose region is usually less than that in terms of the volume, and a reverse of plan ranking order can consequently occur. The percentage of organ surface irradiated to high dose is typically greater than the percentage volume by 5% to 10%. The use of the dose‐surface histograms in analysis of organ motion and/or patient setup uncertainty, and analysis of rectal complications, is also discussed.