title: CT-simulator based brachytherapy planner: seed localization and incorporation of biological considerations.
abstract: Radiation dose prescription, interpretation, and planning can be problematic for brachytherapy due to high spatial heterogeneity, varying and various dose rates, absence of superimposed calculated isodose distributions onto affected tissues, and lack of dose volume histograms. A new treatment planner has been developed to reduce these limitations in brachytherapy planning. The PC-based planning system uses a CT-simulator to sequentially scan the patient to generate orthogonal images (to localize seed positions) and subsequently axially scan the patient. This sequential scanning procedure avoids using multiple independent patient scans, templates, external frames, or fiducial markers to register the reconstructed seed positions with patient contours. Dose is computed after assigning activity to (low dose rate) Ir192, linear Cs137, or I125 seeds or dwell times (high dose rate) to the Ir192 source. The planar isodose distribution is superimposed onto axial, coronal, or sagittal views of the tissues following image reconstruction. The treatment plan computes (1) direct and cumulative volume dose histograms for individual tissues, (2) the average, standard deviation, and coefficient of skewness of the dose distribution within individual tissues, (3) an average (over all tissue pixels) survival probability (S) and average survival dose DASD for a given radiation treatment, (4) normal tissue complication probability (NTCP) delivered to a given tissue. All four computed quantities account for dose heterogeneity. These estimates of the biological response to radiation from laboratory-based studies may help guide the evaluation of the prescribed low- or high-dose rate therapy in retrospective and prospective clinical studies at a number of treatment sites.
authors.affiliation: Division of Radiation Oncology, Johns Hopkins Oncology Center, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mayer
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Fong
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Frankel
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Simons
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kleinberg
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D001918:Brachytherapy; D002588:Cesium Radioisotopes / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003198:Computer Simulation; D006801:Humans; D007457:Iodine Radioisotopes / Q000627:therapeutic use; D007496:Iridium Radioisotopes / Q000627:therapeutic use; D011879:Radiotherapy Dosage; D011880:Radiotherapy Planning, Computer-Assisted; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
chemical_list: D002588:Cesium Radioisotopes; D007457:Iodine Radioisotopes; D007496:Iridium Radioisotopes