Dosimetric accuracy of three dose calculation algorithms for radiation therapy of in situ non-small cell lung carcinoma.

Background: Study determines differences in calculated dose distributions for non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSC LC) patients. NSC LC cases were investigated, being the most common lung cancer treated by radiotherapy in our clinical practice.

Materials And Methods: A retrospective study of 15 NSCLC patient dose distributions originally calculated using standard superposition (SS) and recalculated using collapsed cone (CC ) and Monte Carlo (MC) based algorithm expressed as dose to medium in medium (MCD) and dose to water in medium (MCD) was performed so that prescribed dose covers at least 99% of the gross target volume (GTV).

National reference levels of CT procedures dedicated for treatment planning in radiation oncology.

Objective: To present results of the first national survey on reference levels of CT imaging performed for the treatment planning purposes in radiation oncology in Croatia.

Methods: Data for CT protocols of five anatomical regions including head, head and neck, pelvis, breast, and thorax were collected at eight radiation oncology departments in Croatia. Data included volume CT dose index (CTDI), dose-length product (DLP), scan length and set of acquisition and reconstruction parameters.

Experimental validation of Monte Carlo based treatment planning system in bone density equivalent media.

Introduction Advanced, Monte Carlo (MC) based dose calculation algorithms, determine absorbed dose as dose to medium-in-medium (Dm,m) or dose to water-in-medium (Dw,m). Some earlier studies identified the differences in the absorbed doses related to the calculation mode, especially in the bone density equivalent (BDE) media. Since the calculation algorithms built in the treatment planning systems (TPS) should be dosimetrically verified before their use, we analyzed dose differences between two calculation modes for the Elekta Monaco TPS.

Evaluation of two-dimensional dose distributions for pre-treatment patient-specific IMRT dosimetry.

Background The accuracy of dose calculation is crucial for success of the radiotherapy treatment. One of the methods that represent the current standard for patient-specific dosimetry is the evaluation of dose distributions measured with an ionization chamber array inside a homogeneous phantom using gamma method. Nevertheless, this method does not replicate the realistic conditions present when a patient is undergoing therapy.

Comparison of calculated dose distributions reported as dose-to-water and dose-to-medium for intensity-modulated radiotherapy of nasopharyngeal cancer patients.

Advanced dose calculation algorithms for radiation therapy treatment planning can report external beam photon dose 2-sided, in terms of dose-to-medium (D) and dose-to-water (D). The purpose of our study was to determinate the effect of D and D reporting modes built in Elekta Monaco treatment planning system on intensity-modulated radiotherapy dose distributions for patients with nasopharyngeal cancer. For 13 patients involved in this retrospective study, 2 plans were created: 1 using D and another according to D reporting mode.