Integrating the healthcare enterprise in radiation oncology plug and play--the future of radiation oncology?

Purpose: To describe the processes and benefits of the integrating healthcare enterprises in radiation oncology (IHE-RO).

Methods: The IHE-RO process includes five basic steps. The first step is to identify common interoperability issues encountered in radiation treatment planning and the delivery process.

Dynamic targeting image-guided radiotherapy.

Volumetric imaging and planning for 3-dimensional (3D) conformal radiotherapy and intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) have highlighted the need to the oncology community to better understand the geometric uncertainties inherent in the radiotherapy delivery process, including setup error (interfraction) as well as organ motion during treatment (intrafraction). This has ushered in the development of emerging technologies and clinical processes, collectively referred to as image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT). The goal of IGRT is to provide the tools needed to manage both inter- and intrafraction motion to improve the accuracy of treatment delivery.