Ij. Kalet et al., PRISM - A NEW APPROACH TO RADIOTHERAPY PLANNING SOFTWARE, International journal of radiation oncology, biology, physics, 36(2), 1996, pp. 451-461
Citations number
45
Categorie Soggetti
Oncology,"Radiology,Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging
Purpose: We describe the capabilities and performance of Prism, an inn
ovative new radiotherapy planning system with unusual features and des
ign. The design and implementation strategies are intended to assure h
igh quality and clinical acceptability. The features include Artificia
l Intelligence tools and special support for multileaf collimator (MLC
) systems. The design provides unusual flexibility of operation and ea
se of expansion. Methods and Materials: We have implemented Prism, a t
hree-dimensional (3D) radiotherapy treatment-planning system on standa
rd commercial workstations with the widely available X window system.
The design and implementation use ideas taken from recent software eng
ineering research, for example, the use of behavioral entity-relations
hip modeling and the ''Mediator Method'' instead of ad-hoc programming
. The Prism system includes the usual features of a 3D planning system
, including Beam's Eye View and the ability to simulate any treatment
geometry possible with any standard radiotherapy accelerator. It inclu
des a rule-based expert system for automated generation of the plannin
g target volume as defined in ICRU Report 50. In addition, it provides
special support for planning treatments with a multileaf collimator (
MLC). We also implemented a Radiotherapy Treatment Planning Tools Foun
dation for Prism, so that we are able to use software tools from other
institutions without any source code modification.Results: The Prism
system has been in clinical operation at the University of Washington
since July 1994 and has been installed at several other clinics. The s
ystem is run simultaneously by several users, each with their own work
station operating from a common networked database and software. In ad
dition to the dosimetrists, the system is used by radiation oncologist
s to define tumor and target volumes and by radiation therapists to se
lect treatment setups to load into a computer controlled accelerator.
Conclusions: Experience with the installation and operation has shown
the design to be effective as both a clinical and research tool. Integ
ration of software tools has eased the development and significantly e
nhanced the clinical usability of the system. The design has been show
n to be a sound basis for further innovation in radiation treatment pl
anning software and for research in the treatment planning process. Co
pyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Inc.