A simple backup for a radiosurgery treatment planning system

To calculate the dose distribution and the number of monitor unit (MU) per arc, all radiosurgery systems utilize some sort of computer. These computers are, of course, subject to equipment malfunction such as problems with the magnetic tape drive, keyboard, mouse, etc. Since most radiosurgery procedures are quite invasive and time consuming, it is important to have a reliable and reasonably accurate backup system for planning the treatment. This paper will show that a simple PC based system, along with a digitizer, may be used as a backup for a commercial, VAX based radiosurgery system. A complete radiosurgery planning procedure was carried out on a head phantom with a target imbedded inside. The treatment planning and verification using the PC based system is also compared with that using the VAX based system.