![]() ![]() ( 6, 7) who proposed an information retrieval method which utilized an overlap volume histogram to find similar plans of previous patients in a database as initial planning goals to guide the new planning procedure. ![]() Early exploration was conducted by Wu et al. ![]() Many efforts have been made to offer a clearer directionality during IMRT planning by utilizing both patient anatomical information and past planning experience. Therefore, it is essential to explore new methods to guide planners of varied skill levels to generate high quality plans in a more efficient way. What is worse, the recommended IMRT quality assurance protocols can only check whether the planning parameters are correct or not, they can not verify whether the plan has an optimal dose distribution. It has already been demonstrated that the plan quality relies heavily on the experience of a dosimetrist and the time spent on a given plan ( 5). This is a challenging process because the optimization objectives are usually unknown before planning and geometrical anatomy-based features vary among patients. Currently, IMRT planning is still a trial-and-error procedure, in which dosimetrists are required to predetermine all the starting optimization objectives for tumor targets and organs at risk (OARs), and manually adjust them during the optimization process until the desired dose distribution is achieved. Recent reports have proven a better 5-year overall survival, tumor local control, and fewer late toxicities for NPC patients treated with IMRT ( 3, 4).Īlthough the clinical benefits of IMRT for NPC treatment have been confirmed, a renewed concern has recently arisen on the quality of IMRT planning. Compared with traditional two-dimensional radiotherapy and three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy, IMRT uses inverse planning algorithms to generate fields of varied beam intensity which allows a higher radiation dose to be delivered to the tumor while minimizing exposure to the surrounding healthy organs ( 1, 2). Intensity modulation radiation therapy (IMRT) has become a major treatment modality for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). ![]()
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