Dose gradient curve: A new tool for evaluating dose gradient.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

Stereotactic radiotherapy, which delivers an ablative high radiation dose to a target volume for maximum local tumor control, requires a rapid dose fall-off outside the target volume to prevent extensive damage to nearby normal tissue. Currently, there is no tool to comprehensively evaluate the dose gradient near the target volume. We propose the dose gradient curve (DGC) as a new tool to evaluate the quality of a treatment plan with respect to the dose fall-off characteristics.

Methods

The average distance between two isodose surfaces was represented by the dose gradient index (DGI) estimated by a simple equation using the volume and surface area of isodose levels. The surface area was calculated by mesh generation and surface triangulation. The DGC was defined as a

SUBMITTER: Sung K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5919624 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature