Dose optimization in external radiotherapy using matRad: Parametric analysis with TG-119 phantoms and a thoracic case

IF 2.8 3区物理与天体物理 Q3 CHEMISTRY, PHYSICAL

Radiation Physics and Chemistry Pub Date : 2025-08-26 DOI:10.1016/j.radphyschem.2025.113266

Morad El Kafhali , Marziyeh Tahmasbi , Abdenbi El Moutaoukkil , Mohammed Talbi , Zouheir Amraoui , M'hamed El Mansouri , Mohammed Khalis

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background and objectives

This study assessed the impact of treatment planning parameters on dose distribution optimization using matRad, a MATLAB-based inverse treatment planning toolkit developed at the German Cancer Research Center, in compliance with American Association of Physicists in Medicine Task Group 119 (AAPM TG-119) guidelines. The aim was to evaluate how variations in beam number, penalty values, cost function, and isocenter positioning affect plan quality and optimization efficiency.

Method

Treatment planning was performed with matRad (version 3.1.0) on AAPM TG-119 phantoms (C-shape, mock prostate, head/neck) and a real thoracic tumor case. Dose distributions were analyzed for different beam configurations, penalty weight settings, cost functions (equivalent uniform dose (EUD)-based vs. dose-volume (DV)-based optimization), and isocenter placement strategies (auto-centering vs. manual shifts).

Result

Increasing beam number improved dose homogeneity and conformity but showed a nonlinear trend, with excessive beams leading to computational redundancy. Higher penalty values improved target dose uniformity but increased optimization iterations, reflecting a trade-off between coverage and computational complexity. EUD-based optimization converged faster than DV-based, while the latter provided better OAR sparing. Auto-isocenter positioning significantly improved target dose coverage in thoracic tumor planning, while a +20 mm manual shift resulted in suboptimal target coverage (D_95 % = 116.1 cGy vs. 5164.8 cGy with auto-centering) and increased lung dose exposure.

Conclusion

Careful adjustment of planning parameters is essential to balance dose conformity, computational efficiency, and clinical feasibility. These results validate matRad as a research and educational tool, demonstrating its potential for treatment optimization, planning strategy testing, and algorithm development.

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matRad在体外放疗中的剂量优化：TG-119幻影和胸部病例的参数分析

背景和目的本研究根据美国医学物理学家协会任务小组119 （AAPM TG-119）指南，使用德国癌症研究中心开发的基于matlab的逆治疗计划工具包matRad评估治疗计划参数对剂量分布优化的影响。目的是评估梁数、惩罚值、成本函数和等中心定位的变化如何影响规划质量和优化效率。方法应用matRad（3.1.0）软件对AAPM TG-119模型（c型、模拟前列腺、头颈部）和1例真实胸部肿瘤患者进行治疗规划。分析了不同光束配置、罚重设置、成本函数（基于等效均匀剂量（EUD） vs基于剂量-体积（DV）的优化）和等中心放置策略（自动定心vs手动换位）的剂量分布。结果增加光束数可改善剂量均匀性和一致性，但呈现非线性趋势，过多光束会导致计算冗余。更高的惩罚值改善了靶剂量均匀性，但增加了优化迭代，反映了覆盖率和计算复杂性之间的权衡。基于eud的优化比基于dv的收敛速度更快，而后者提供了更好的桨节约。自动等中心定位可显著提高胸部肿瘤规划中的目标剂量覆盖，而手动移动+20 mm导致目标覆盖次优（d95% = 116.1 cGy，而自动定心时为5164.8 cGy），并增加肺部剂量暴露。结论谨慎调整计划参数对平衡剂量一致性、计算效率和临床可行性至关重要。这些结果验证了matRad作为一种研究和教育工具，展示了其在治疗优化、规划策略测试和算法开发方面的潜力。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Radiation Physics and Chemistry 化学-核科学技术

CiteScore

5.60

自引率

17.20%

发文量

574

审稿时长

12 weeks

期刊介绍： Radiation Physics and Chemistry is a multidisciplinary journal that provides a medium for publication of substantial and original papers, reviews, and short communications which focus on research and developments involving ionizing radiation in radiation physics, radiation chemistry and radiation processing. The journal aims to publish papers with significance to an international audience, containing substantial novelty and scientific impact. The Editors reserve the rights to reject, with or without external review, papers that do not meet these criteria. This could include papers that are very similar to previous publications, only with changed target substrates, employed materials, analyzed sites and experimental methods, report results without presenting new insights and/or hypothesis testing, or do not focus on the radiation effects.