Dosimetric comparison of two treatment planning systems for spine SBRT.

Two commonly used treatment planning systems (TPS) are compared for the planning of spine stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT). The main purpose is to highlight relative advantages and disadvantages of each system and propose a methodologic approach for comparisons. Twenty clinical plans were inversely planned with step-and-shoot intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) each using 9 to 11 beams, referred to as IMRT_P.

Intensity modulated radiotherapy of non-small-cell lung cancer incorporating SPECT ventilation imaging.

Purpose: The authors performed this retrospective study to investigate the impact of using ventilation scans obtained from single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) in selecting beam directions in intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) planning in lung cancer radiotherapy to spare dosimetrically well ventilated lung.

Methods: For ten consecutive stage III non-small-cell lung cancer patients, the authors obtained both ventilation/perfusion SPECT scans and four-dimensional CT scans for treatment planning purposes. Each ventilation scan was registered with the corresponding planning CT and ventilation volumes corresponding to either > or = 50% (vv50) or > or = 70% (vv70) of the maximum SPECT count were automatically segmented.