Evaluation of high energy photon external beam treatment planning: project summary. Photon Treatment Planning Collaborative Working Group.

A three-year project for the "Evaluation of High Energy Photon External Beam Treatment Planning," sponsored by the National Cancer Institute, is summarized. The participants in this project were determined on a competitive basis and included staff from four institutions: Massachusetts General Hospital; Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center; the University of Pennsylvania; and Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiation. This project built on the developments in three-dimensional anatomical and dose distribution reconstruction at these institutions and on the clinical guidance at these centers for quantitative evaluation of treatment plans. Protocols for acceptance of patients with lesions at eight different sites were developed and utilized. The technical methodology for interchange of treatment planning tapes, specifications for computerized tomography sections and their reconstruction, and the employment of dose-volume histograms of target regions and specified normal tissues and organs were all developed. Data were accumulated for tumor control probabilities (TCP) and for normal tissue complication probabilities (NTCP) for use in treatment plan design and evaluation. Several treatment parameters were studied as influenced by the availability of three-dimensional treatment planning and specific conclusions were reached.