title: A new evaluation method of target volume coverage and homogeneity for IMRT treatment planning.
abstract: Based on the functional approximation of a target volume DVH (TV-DVH) to a modified step function, we propose a new index that indicates the degrees of dose coverage and homogeneity for target volume reached in clinical routines. Forty-seven IMRT patient plans are included in the analysis to explore the efficiency of the proposed method. The new index, named s-index, was defined to vary from 0:05 for clinically acceptable TV-DVH at our institution and showed the ability to give the user an idea whether the degree of dose coverage and homogeneity for target volume were adequate when the user-defined criteria had been in place. The result shows that the lower value of s-index indecates the higher dose coverage for the tumor volume and/or the higher dose homogeneity showing the faster fall-off rate at the percentage dose higher than 100%. In addition to the quantification of dose coverage and homogeneity is has been also shown that s-index is more accurate in evaluating the dose homogeneity in tumor volume than the conventional method. The proposed method has demonstrated the effectiveness in evaluating TV-DVH in terms of simple index and supplements currently used indices by providing complete information of a DVH curve in a treatment plan.
authors.forename: Myonggeun
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yoon
authors.forename: Dongho
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.forename: Junghun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Sung Yong
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Se Byeong
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Joo-Young
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Tae Hyun
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Dae Yong
authors.initials: DY
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Kwan Ho
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Cho