Three-dimensional display in planning radiation therapy: a clinical perspective. Photon Treatment Planning Collaborative Working Group.

We describe the experience with 3-D display capabilities of four institutions engaged in a comparative three-dimensional treatment planning study. A high degree of interactivity was found to be desirable, which puts great demands on the hardware. Displays which were found particularly helpful included: display of multiple 2-D sections (transverse, sagittal, coronal and/or oblique) of one or more imaging studies; superimposition of outlines of structures of interest; superimposition of dose distributions displayed as isodose lines or as a color-wash overlay; beam's eye view displays of: structures displayed as contour-stacks or as shaded surfaces, dose distributions on the surface of structures, interactively viewed isodose surface displays, and digitally reconstructed radiographs. Dose-volume histograms provided valuable summarizations of dose data.