title: Evaluation of stereotactic radiosurgery conformity indices for 170 target volumes in patients with brain metastases.
abstract: A database of clinically approved stereotactic radiosurgery treatment plans was created. One hundred and seventy targets in the database were then retrospectively evaluated using conformity indices suggested by RTOG, SALT-Lomax and Paddick. Relationships between the three alternative conformity indices were determined. The Paddick index combines the information provided by the RTOG and SALT-Lomax indices into a single index. The variation in the geometric overlap ratio, which is related to the SALT-Lomax index, was found to be not clinically relevant for our cohort of patients, and thus the Paddick and RTOG indices can be directly related. It was found that access to a dose volume histogram or dose distribution for a treatment plan renders the RTOG conformity index sufficient for plan quality evaluation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Physics, Tom Baker Cancer Center, Calgary, AB T2N 4N2, Canada. jjstanle@ucalgary.ca
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Stanley
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Breitman
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dunscombe
authors.forename: David P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Spencer
authors.forename: Harold
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lau
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy* / Q000556:secondary; D016208:Databases, Factual; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008495:Medical Oncology / Q000379:methods; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy; D016634:Radiosurgery / Q000379:methods*; D011879:Radiotherapy Dosage; D020266:Radiotherapy, Conformal / Q000379:methods; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012189:Retrospective Studies