title: Development of the open-source dose calculation and optimization toolkit matRad.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We report on the development of the open-source cross-platform radiation treatment planning toolkit matRad and its comparison against validated treatment planning systems. The toolkit enables three-dimensional intensity-modulated radiation therapy treatment planning for photons, scanned protons and scanned carbon ions.
  
  
  METHODS
  matRad is entirely written in Matlab and is freely available online. It re-implements well-established algorithms employing a modular and sequential software design to model the entire treatment planning workflow. It comprises core functionalities to import DICOM data, to calculate and optimize dose as well as a graphical user interface for visualization. matRad dose calculation algorithms (for carbon ions this also includes the computation of the relative biological effect) are compared against dose calculation results originating from clinically approved treatment planning systems.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We observe three-dimensional γ-analysis pass rates ≥ 99.67% for all three radiation modalities utilizing a distance to agreement of 2 mm and a dose difference criterion of 2%. The computational efficiency of matRad is evaluated in a treatment planning study considering three different treatment scenarios for every radiation modality. For photons, we measure total run times of 145 s-1260 s for dose calculation and fluence optimization combined considering 4-72 beam orientations and 2608-13597 beamlets. For charged particles, we measure total run times of 63 s-993 s for dose calculation and fluence optimization combined considering 9963-45574 pencil beams. Using a CT and dose grid resolution of 0.3 cm3requires a memory consumption of 1.59 GB-9.07 GB and 0.29 GB-17.94 GB for photons and charged particles, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The dosimetric accuracy, computational performance and open-source character of matRad encourages a future application of matRad for both educational and research purposes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology, German Cancer Research Center-DKFZ, Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, D-69120, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Hans-Peter
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Wieser
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology, German Cancer Research Center-DKFZ, Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, D-69120, Heidelberg, Germany.|Department of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology, Heidelberg Institute for Radiation Oncology-HIRO, Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, D-69120, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Eduardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cisternas
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology, German Cancer Research Center-DKFZ, Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, D-69120, Heidelberg, Germany.|Department of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology, Heidelberg Institute for Radiation Oncology-HIRO, Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, D-69120, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Niklas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Wahl
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology, German Cancer Research Center-DKFZ, Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, D-69120, Heidelberg, Germany.|Department of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology, Heidelberg Institute for Radiation Oncology-HIRO, Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, D-69120, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Silke
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ulrich
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology, German Cancer Research Center-DKFZ, Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, D-69120, Heidelberg, Germany.|Department of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology, Heidelberg Institute for Radiation Oncology-HIRO, Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, D-69120, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stadler
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology, German Cancer Research Center-DKFZ, Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, D-69120, Heidelberg, Germany.|Department of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology, Heidelberg Institute for Radiation Oncology-HIRO, Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, D-69120, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Henning
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mescher
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology, German Cancer Research Center-DKFZ, Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, D-69120, Heidelberg, Germany.|Department of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology, Heidelberg Institute for Radiation Oncology-HIRO, Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, D-69120, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Lucas-Raphael
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology, German Cancer Research Center-DKFZ, Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, D-69120, Heidelberg, Germany.|Department of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology, Heidelberg Institute for Radiation Oncology-HIRO, Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, D-69120, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Klinge
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology, German Cancer Research Center-DKFZ, Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, D-69120, Heidelberg, Germany.|Department of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology, Heidelberg Institute for Radiation Oncology-HIRO, Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, D-69120, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Hubert
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gabrys
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology, German Cancer Research Center-DKFZ, Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, D-69120, Heidelberg, Germany.|Department of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology, Heidelberg Institute for Radiation Oncology-HIRO, Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, D-69120, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Lucas
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Burigo
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology, Heidelberg Institute for Radiation Oncology-HIRO, Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, D-69120, Heidelberg, Germany.|Department of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology, Heidelberg Ion Beam Therapy Center-HIT, Im Neuenheimer Feld 450, D-69120, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mairani
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology, Heidelberg Institute for Radiation Oncology-HIRO, Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, D-69120, Heidelberg, Germany.|Department of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology, Heidelberg Ion Beam Therapy Center-HIT, Im Neuenheimer Feld 450, D-69120, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Swantje
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ecker
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology, Heidelberg Institute for Radiation Oncology-HIRO, Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, D-69120, Heidelberg, Germany.|Department of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology, Heidelberg Ion Beam Therapy Center-HIT, Im Neuenheimer Feld 450, D-69120, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ackermann
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology, Heidelberg Institute for Radiation Oncology-HIRO, Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, D-69120, Heidelberg, Germany.|Department of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology, Heidelberg Ion Beam Therapy Center-HIT, Im Neuenheimer Feld 450, D-69120, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Malte
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ellerbrock
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology, Heidelberg Institute for Radiation Oncology-HIRO, Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, D-69120, Heidelberg, Germany.|Department of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology, Heidelberg Ion Beam Therapy Center-HIT, Im Neuenheimer Feld 450, D-69120, Heidelberg, Germany.|Department of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Am Coulombwall 1, D-85748, Garching, Germany.
authors.forename: Katia
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Parodi
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology, German Cancer Research Center-DKFZ, Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, D-69120, Heidelberg, Germany.|Department of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology, Heidelberg Institute for Radiation Oncology-HIRO, Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, D-69120, Heidelberg, Germany.|Department of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology, Heidelberg Ion Beam Therapy Center-HIT, Im Neuenheimer Feld 450, D-69120, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Jäkel
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology, German Cancer Research Center-DKFZ, Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, D-69120, Heidelberg, Germany.|Department of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology, Heidelberg Institute for Radiation Oncology-HIRO, Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, D-69120, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bangert
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D006801:Humans; D017785:Photons; D011879:Radiotherapy Dosage; D011880:Radiotherapy Planning, Computer-Assisted; D050397:Radiotherapy, Intensity-Modulated
keywords: DICOM; dose calculation; inverse planning; optimization; radiation therapy