Automatic localization of curved wires used in brachytherapy. The COUREP program.

The localization of sources used for brachytherapy has become more difficult since radium sources are replaced by flexible wires such as Iridium 192 wires. We describe the COUREP program which automatically reconstructs the real 3-D arrangement of curved wires from two orthogonal radiographs of the implant. The data used by the program consist mainly of the projections of the wires on the radiographs expressed as the co-ordinates of points selected on these projections individually on each radiograph. The output consists of the 3-D co-ordinates of points located on the wires with optionally a graphic output including the plotting of a perspective view of the implant.