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Three-Dimensional Treatment Planning and Conformal Therapy

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Technical Basis of Radiation Therapy

Part of the book series: Medical Radiology ((Med Radiol Radiat Oncol))

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Abstract

Three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy (3DCRT) is now well established in routine clinical practice as an effective means of achieving higher tumor doses without increasing doses to critical normal structures. 3DCRT emphasizes a volumetric image-based virtual simulation approach based on the delineation of image-based tumor volume(s) and the associated microscopic disease volume(s), as well as the critical normal structures, for every individual patient. It should be understood that the 3D planning process puts increased demands on the radiation oncologist to specify tumor/target volume(s) and organs at risk with far greater accuracy than before. Moreover, this technology also places increased demands on the radiation oncology physicist and radiation technologist to insure adequate treatment planning and quality assurance measures are in place to accommodate the 3DCRT process, e.g., the need for increased precision in tumor imaging, patient set-up reproducibility, organ motion assessment, and treatment delivery verification. Readers will be able to appreciate the 3D planning approach and CRT much more fully, if they view it as a process, rather than viewing it as a particular beam configuration, or considering it simply as implementing certain technology. In this chapter, we discuss the physics and clinical aspects of 3D treatment planning and conformal therapy including volume definitions, planning approaches, planning tools, plan implementation and treatment verification.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    There is significant variation in the title and function used for these positions, especially from one country to another: in the U.S. the name dosimetrist and radiation therapist are used; in Europe the name radiotherapy technologist (RTT) is more common.

  2. 2.

    See foot note 1.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiation Oncology, University of California Davis Medical Center, Sacramento, CA, 95817, USA

    James A. Purdy

  2. Department of Radiation Oncology, InstituteVerbeeten, Tilburg, The Netherlands

    Philip Poortmans

  3. Department of Radiation Oncology, Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA

    Carlos A. Perez

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  1. James A. Purdy
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  2. Philip Poortmans
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  3. Carlos A. Perez
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Correspondence to James A. Purdy .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institutet Stockholm Sweden, MMC 436, Dept.of Oncol-Pathol Karolinska, Delaware St. SE 420, Minneapolis, 55455, Minnesota, USA

    Seymour H. Levitt

  2. UC Davis Cancer Center, Dept. Radiation Oncology, University of California, Davis, X Street 4501, Sacramento, 95817, California, USA

    James A. Purdy

  3. School of Medicine, Dept. Radiation Oncology, Washington University, Forest Park Ave. 4511, St. Louis, 63108-2138, Michigan, USA

    Carlos A. Perez

  4. Instituut Verbeeten, Tilburg, 5042 SB, Netherlands

    Philip Poortmans

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Purdy, J.A., Poortmans, P., Perez, C.A. (2011). Three-Dimensional Treatment Planning and Conformal Therapy. In: Levitt, S., Purdy, J., Perez, C., Poortmans, P. (eds) Technical Basis of Radiation Therapy. Medical Radiology(). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/174_2011_322

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/174_2011_322

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