[Computerized procedures in 3-dimensional radiotherapy planning].
The aim of 3D radiotherapy treatment planning is to match the dose as closely as possible to the target volume, thus avoiding side effects in healthy tissue and radiosensitive organs at risk. A virtual radiotherapy simulator designed for the definition of treatment parameters and the analysis of precalculated dose distributions enables iterative optimization of treatment plans.


METHODS
VOXELPLAN is a software package for 3D radiotherapy treatment planning developed at the German Cancer Research Center; it consists of user interfaces for image segmentation, virtual therapy simulation, dose calculation, plan evaluation and patient documentation. It is written in C and FORTRAN and runs on VAXstation 4000, IBM RS/6000 and DEC ALPHA hardware.


RESULTS
Since 1990 a pilot installation of VOXELPLAN has been applied in clinical routine at the Center and at the University Clinic for Radiology, Heidelberg. Treatment for more than 1500 patients has been planned and carried out using the system, proving its technical and organizational applicability.


CONCLUSIONS
We expect better acceptance and further dissemination of the techniques described, conformation therapy as well as (after its technical realization) inverse planning, from continuous optimization of the planning process.
Höss
A
A
Abteilung Medizinische Physik, Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, Heidelberg.
Debus
J
J
Bendl
R
R
Engenhart-Cabillic
R
R
Schlegel
W
W
D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation*; D011879:Radiotherapy Dosage; D011880:Radiotherapy Planning, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation*; D012984:Software