Characterization of automatic treatment planning approaches in radiotherapy.

Background And Purpose: Automatic approaches are widely implemented to automate dose optimization in radiotherapy treatment planning. This study systematically investigates how to configure automatic planning in order to create the best possible plans.

Materials And Methods: Automatic plans were generated using protocol based automatic iterative optimization.

Knowledge-Based Assessment of Focal Dose Escalation Treatment Plans in Prostate Cancer.

Purpose: In a randomized focal dose escalation radiation therapy trial for prostate cancer (FLAME), up to 95 Gy was prescribed to the tumor in the dose-escalated arm, with 77 Gy to the entire prostate in both arms. As dose constraints to organs at risk had priority over dose escalation and suboptimal planning could occur, we investigated how well the dose to the tumor was boosted. We developed an anatomy-based prediction model to identify plans with suboptimal tumor dose and performed replanning to validate our model.

Radiotherapy quality assurance for mesorectum treatment planning within the multi-center phase II STAR-TReC trial: Dutch results.

Background: The STAR-TReC trial is an international multi-center, randomized, phase II study assessing the feasibility of short-course radiotherapy or long-course chemoradiotherapy as an alternative to total mesorectal excision surgery. A new target volume is used for both (chemo)radiotherapy arms which includes only the mesorectum. The treatment planning QA revealed substantial variation in dose to organs at risk (OAR) between centers.