Recent developments in brachytherapy: forward and inverse planning of dose distributions

por Dr. Robert van der Laarse (Quality Radiation Therapy)

martes 23 may. 2006 12:00 → 13:00 Europe/Madrid

Sala Seminarios IFIC (Edf. Institutos de Investigación)

An introduction to high-dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy is given with emphasis on optimization methods. These methods aim to adapt the dose distribution to the target volume and flatten the dose distribution inside the target volume as much as possible. The differences between forward and inverse optimization will be presented. Since 1985 the author has been involved in the development of several methods for forward optimization. Nowadays, inverse optimization of the brachytherapy treatment plan is rapidly gaining interest. A method to evaluate and compare the results of all these optimization methods will be presented, using dose distribution properties derived from the cumulative and natural dose-volume histograms (DVHs) of the target- and implanted volume. Finally, QRT is developing the Visual Inverse Planning method VIP. This method allows rapid inverse optimization of complex brachytherapy cases by visual interaction of the treatment planner with the dose distribution. The method will be explained using an HDR prostate implant.