Tools for managing and evaluating the complexity of radiotherapy treatment plans.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37004/sefm/2025.26.1.001Keywords:
Complexity, Complexity metrics, Treatment plans, IMRT, VMATAbstract
Introduction: To evaluate the quality of radiotherapy treatment plans, it is essential to analyze not only the calculated dose distribution but also its complexity. This study describes tools for computing complexity metrics and demonstrates their utility by comparing plans with and without complexity control.
Materials and Methods: Treatment plans were optimized with and without complexity control using the Aperture Shape Controller tool in the Eclipse treatment planning system and the control of Monitor Units in two cases representative of clinical practice. Dosimetric comparisons were performed through the analysis of axial planes, dose profiles, and dosimetric indices. Complexity was quantified using metrics computed with two self-developed tools (Eclipse script and PlanAnalyzer, coded in MATLAB).
Results: The use of complexity control tools resulted in plans with notably lower complexity in both evaluated cases, while maintaining very similar and clinically acceptable dose distributions.
Conclusions: The control and analysis of complexity are essential in the evaluation of radiotherapy treatment plans. The tools used for computing complexity metrics are made available to members of the Spanish Society of Medical Physics.
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