Research software for radiotherapy gel dosimetry

Gel dosimetry using magnetic resonance imaging is a technique which allows measurement of three-dimensional absorbed dose distributions in radiation therapy. This paper presents details of a software tool written specifically to provide facilities to perform image processing required in research and development of gel dosimetry. Collections of magnetic resonance images can be converted into either longitudinal or transverse nuclear magnetic resonance relaxation images. The conversions are accomplished by means of a pixel-by-pixel non-linear least squares fitting algorithm. Adjustments can be made to the number of parameters used in the fitting algorithm. Fundamental image manipulation tools such as window width/level display adjustment, zooming, profile and region of interest tools are provided. The software has been developed using MATLAB (The MathWorks Inc., Natick, MA) running on Windows 95. User interaction is via a windows graphical user interface (GUI). Data such as statistics from regions of interest can be exported to other windows applications for further processing. Flexibility is incorporated in the GUI design by taking advantage of the developmental aspects of the MATLAB environment. Although originally designed for gel dosimetry, the software can be used in any application of MRI which requires production and manipulation of relaxation time images.