Assessment of Dose Distributions in a Commercial Radiation TreatmentPlanning System for Conventional and Conformal Techniques

Abstract

Surprisingly, the presentation of errors in treatment planning calculations in thetreatment planning process itself is uncommon. Doing first things first, there is conceptuallogic in an exploration of the uncertainties that originate in treatment planning itself, which isthe objective of this thesis , and in a presentation of these uncertainties in treatment planning.Duringthe actual radiation treatment phase, the beam parameters calculated by the treatment planning system (TPS) can be used for the patient and the linac setup,Any deviation in these planned beam parameters would lead to a difference in the dose delivered to the patient. Summarizing this introductory section, it has been shown that knowledge about theaccuracy of treatment planning calculations is a crucial requirement for the enhancement oftreatment planning capabilities, and thus an essential condition to achieve the expectedbenefits of conformal radiotherapy treatment.