Treatment planning involves the use of complex systems to model the delivered radiation dose.
The delivery of dose is optimised to best conform to the individual patient to target the cancer and minimise dose to surrounding organs.
For External beam planning the department uses Varian’s Eclipse system within the ARIA environment, but also the Brainlab system for SRS treatments combined with ExacTrak for precise patient positioning.
The use of Mirada software is being investigated to streamline the workflow and provide an automated contouring solution based on Machine Learning. Further details can be found on the research page.
Routine techniques and technologies
- Varian RapidPlan
- Mirada
- RapidArc (VMAT)
- Almost all patients are treated using Varian’s latest VMAT technology
- Allows greater dose conformity and reduced plan delivery time
- 4DCT and Gating
- Breast patients are treated using a Deep Inspiration Breath Hold (DIBH) technique.
- The department has provided a number of training workshops on the use of the Varian RPM system
- Recently the upgrade to the RGSC system has been rolled out across the TrueBeam linacs and CT scanners
- Breast patients are treated using a Deep Inspiration Breath Hold (DIBH) technique.
- SABR
- SABR (Stereotactic ABlative Radiotherapy) is in common use and the department is part of the SABR consortium
- SABR (Stereotactic ABlative Radiotherapy) is in common use and the department is part of the SABR consortium
Future Developments