Investigational And Comparative Studies on Computational Accuracy of Current Treatment Planning Systems Used in Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy SBRT for Lung Patients

Abstract

The goals of this study are two-fold: (a) investigate the accuracy of five dose calculation algorithms by comparison against measurements performed in realistic homogeneous and heterogeneous phantoms, and (b) evaluate the impact of dose calculation algorithm used in lung SBRT patients. newlineThis dissertation has covered a broad spectrum of topics from fabrication of lung phantoms, measurements of doses in these phantoms, commissioning the virtual Novalis accelerator and CT scanner models in ADAC Pinnacle and Eclipse TPSs, and finally treatment planning of lung SBRT cases with MC, PB, CCC, AAA and AXB algorithms. newlineOverall, AXB algorithm is proved to be capable of calculating dose distributions in a variety of situations with an accuracy of within 3% as compared to MC calculations. Other algorithms, such as CCC and AAA, were within 5% of MC calculations newline