title: Interface software for DOSXYZnrc Monte Carlo dose evaluation on a commercial radiation treatment planning system.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  As the conventional graphical user interface (GUI) associated with DOSXYZnrc or BEAMnrc is unable to define specific structures such as gross tumor volume (GTV) on computed tomography (CT) data, the quantitative analysis of doses in the form of dose-volume histograms (DVHs) is difficult. The purpose of this study was to develop an interface that enables us to analyze the results of DOSXYZnrc output with a commercial radiation treatment planning (RTP) system and to investigate the validity of the system.
  
  
  METHODS
  Interface software to visualize three-dimensional radiotherapy Monte Carlo (MC) dose data from DOSXYZnrc on the XiO RTP system was developed. To evaluate the interface, MC doses for a variety of photon energies were calculated using the CT data of a thorax phantom and a uniform phantom as well as data from patients with lung tumors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The dose files were analyzed on the XiO RTP system in the form of isodose distributions and DVHs. In all cases, the XiO RTP system perfectly displayed the MC doses for quantitative evaluation in the form of differential and integral DVHs.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Three-dimensional display of DOSXYZnrc doses on a dedicated RTP system could provide all the existing facilities of the system for quantitative dose analysis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Keio University, 35 Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan. kunieda-mi@umin.ac.jp
authors.forename: Etsuo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kunieda
authors.forename: Hossain M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Deloar
authors.forename: Shunji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Takagi
authors.forename: Koichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: Takatsugu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kawase
authors.forename: Hidetoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Saitoh
authors.forename: Kimiaki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: Osamu
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: Graham
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sorell
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kubo
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D011879:Radiotherapy Dosage; D011880:Radiotherapy Planning, Computer-Assisted; D012984:Software