[Computerized procedures in 3-dimensional radiotherapy planning]
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Updated: Aug 12, 2026
Radiation Planning Assistant - A Streamlined, Fully Automated Radiotherapy Treatment Planning System
Published on: April 11, 2018
1Abteilung Medizinische Physik, Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, Heidelberg.
Unlabelled:
The aim of 3D radiotherapy treatment planning is to match the dose as closely as possible to the target volume, thus avoiding side effects in healthy tissue and radiosensitive organs at risk. A virtual radiotherapy simulator designed for the definition of treatment parameters and the analysis of precalculated dose distributions enables iterative optimization of treatment plans.
Methods:
VOXELPLAN is a software package for 3D radiotherapy treatment planning developed at the German Cancer Research Center; it consists of user interfaces for image segmentation, virtual therapy simulation, dose calculation, plan evaluation and patient documentation. It is written in C and FORTRAN and runs on VAXstation 4000, IBM RS/6000 and DEC ALPHA hardware.
Results:
Since 1990 a pilot installation of VOXELPLAN has been applied in clinical routine at the Center and at the University Clinic for Radiology, Heidelberg. Treatment for more than 1500 patients has been planned and carried out using the system, proving its technical and organizational applicability.
Conclusions:
We expect better acceptance and further dissemination of the techniques described, conformation therapy as well as (after its technical realization) inverse planning, from continuous optimization of the planning process.
