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4 - Radiotherapy planning

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2009

By
Andrew Tyler  and
Louise Hanna
Edited by
Louise Hanna ,
Tom Crosby  and
Fergus Macbeth
Andrew Tyler
Affiliation:
Medical Physicist, Velindre Cancer Centre, Velindre Hospital, Whitchurch, Cardiff, UK
Louise Hanna
Affiliation:
Consultant, Clinical Oncologist, Velindre Cancer Centre, Velindre Hospital, Whitchurch, Cardiff, UK
Louise Hanna
Affiliation:
Velindre Hospital, Cardiff
Tom Crosby
Affiliation:
Velindre Hospital, Cardiff
Fergus Macbeth
Affiliation:
Velindre Hospital, Cardiff
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Summary

Introduction

It is important to understand the basic techniques of radiotherapy planning because these will help when developing complex plans. These techniques, which are taught at the FRCR Part I level (Royal College of Radiologists), are used by the treatment centre's Physics Department for checking the validity of calculations before they are applied to patients, and anyone interpreting plans will need to be familiar with them to know whether it is worth adjusting treatment plans during review.

There are several useful reviews of radiotherapy physics in the literature. One by Shiu and Mellenberg (2001) includes sections on isodose planning. Another, by Purdy (2000), provides a perspective on future directions in 3D treatment planning. Radiotherapy is a rapidly developing field and it is important to ensure that new methods satisfy safety and effectiveness requirements before being adopted as routine treatments.

This chapter will deal with the general principles of developing isodose plans that are suitable for treatment and will use specific examples to highlight particular points. It will focus mainly on external beam radiotherapy with megavoltage photons; there will be shorter sections on the use of electrons and brachytherapy. Some aspects of radiotherapy planning using lower energy (kilovoltage) photons will be discussed in Chapter 33 (see p. 382).

Treatment planning overview

Radiotherapy planning can be divided into stages as follows:

  • Patient preparation, position and immobilisation.

  • Localisation method (e.g. orthogonal films, CT scanning, and image co-registration).

  • Definition of target volumes and organs at risk.

  • Radiotherapy technique, including beam arrangements, beam energy, size and shape, weighting, wedges, and production of isodose plan.

  • […]

Type
Chapter
Information
Practical Clinical Oncology , pp. 39 - 54
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2008

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References

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  • Radiotherapy planning
    • By Andrew Tyler, Medical Physicist, Velindre Cancer Centre, Velindre Hospital, Whitchurch, Cardiff, UK, Louise Hanna, Consultant, Clinical Oncologist, Velindre Cancer Centre, Velindre Hospital, Whitchurch, Cardiff, UK
  • Edited by Louise Hanna, Tom Crosby, Fergus Macbeth
  • Book: Practical Clinical Oncology
  • Online publication: 23 December 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511545375.005
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To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Radiotherapy planning
    • By Andrew Tyler, Medical Physicist, Velindre Cancer Centre, Velindre Hospital, Whitchurch, Cardiff, UK, Louise Hanna, Consultant, Clinical Oncologist, Velindre Cancer Centre, Velindre Hospital, Whitchurch, Cardiff, UK
  • Edited by Louise Hanna, Tom Crosby, Fergus Macbeth
  • Book: Practical Clinical Oncology
  • Online publication: 23 December 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511545375.005
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Radiotherapy planning
    • By Andrew Tyler, Medical Physicist, Velindre Cancer Centre, Velindre Hospital, Whitchurch, Cardiff, UK, Louise Hanna, Consultant, Clinical Oncologist, Velindre Cancer Centre, Velindre Hospital, Whitchurch, Cardiff, UK
  • Edited by Louise Hanna, Tom Crosby, Fergus Macbeth
  • Book: Practical Clinical Oncology
  • Online publication: 23 December 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511545375.005
Available formats
×