A Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine-based Collision Prediction System with an Angle Optimization...

Area of Science:

• Medical Physics
• Radiation Oncology
• Image-Guided Therapy

Background:

• Electron beam therapy requires precise applicator positioning.
• Mechanical interference between applicators and patients can occur.
• Pretreatment assessment of collision risk is crucial for safety.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a DICOM-based system for predicting collisions in electron beam therapy.
• To enable quantitative pretreatment assessment of mechanical interference.
• To automatically propose safe, alternative beam angle combinations.

Main Methods:

• Geometrically modeled a 20 cm x 20 cm electron applicator as a 190-mm cube.
• Extracted patient contours and isocenter data from RT Structure Set.
• Calculated minimum clearance distances for various gantry, table, and collimator angles.
• Implemented an optimization algorithm to identify collision-free angle configurations.

Main Results:

• The system successfully identified geometric intersections in initial plans for superior, inferior, and medial regions.
• Suggested alternative beam angles eliminated intersections in 3D visualization.
• Collision-free alternative angles were confirmed on the linear accelerator.

Conclusions:

• The developed system requires no additional hardware and integrates into existing workflows.
• It offers a practical tool for assessing collision risk in electron therapy.
• The system aids in optimizing beam angles for near-surface electron treatments.