STUDY: A Prototype Radiation Therapy Treatment Planning Research Toolkit

该研究资助支持由NCI赞助的优化协作工作组（CWG）的研究，该工作组由来自多个学科的9名成员组成。 CWG的最初目标是为基于网络的工具制定标准，这些工具将加强放射治疗中剂量计算和优化算法的开发和验证。 CWG成员将实施这些基于网络的工具和数据集的原型，这些工具和数据集可以由治疗计划领域的同行进行检查，并从一小群同行那里征求检查和反馈。 具体来说，该项目是一个概念验证研究，涉及讨论和工作，旨在发展一个设计，可以支持开发一个全面的软件环境，以促进放射治疗治疗计划的研究的宏伟愿景。 CWG成员将交换意见，试验自己的软件，开发和实施接口组件软件系统的策略，并开发一个基本的患者病例数据库。 在12个月的时间框架结束时，将开发几个动手演示和练习来证明概念验证。 概念验证实验将为后续的生产质量开发的多年联合合作项目阶段奠定基础，其中将创建患者病例和计划指令的综合数据库，并开发满足研究人员剂量计算，建模，优化和评估需求的生产质量工具包。该项目的成功将推进几个领域的知识前沿。 首先，该研究允许客观分析的计算和优化算法，是可行的治疗计划设计中的临床使用。这将有助于验证这些算法的正确实现和使用，并了解它们的局限性。 其次，该工具包将提供一套工具和分发方法，使质量保证中心、研究科学家和临床医生能够制定、验证和实施治疗计划，这些计划可以根据公认的标准进行基准测试，因此将有助于推进相关的知识前沿。 第三，该工具包将促进临床医生，医学物理学家和优化研究人员之间的跨学科合作，因为它提供了一个通用的规划环境，包括患者病例和评估工具，用于客观地比较不同优化技术产生的规划质量。 最后，从教育的角度来看，它提供了一个共同的治疗计划平台，其中博士。这三个领域的学生和居民可以交叉培训，以开发高质量的调强放射治疗（IMRT）治疗计划设计的优化和计算工具。

This Study Grant supports the research of the NCI-sponsored Optimization Collaborative Working Group (CWG), consisting of nine members from multiple disciplines. The initial goal of the CWG involves developing standards for web-based tools that will enhance the development and validation of dose computation and optimization algorithms in the delivery of radiation treatments. The CWG members will implement prototypes of these web-based tools and data sets that can be examined by peers in this area of treatment planning, and solicit examination and feed back from a small group of these peers. Specifically, the project is a proof-of-concept study that involves discussion and work aimed at evolving a design that can support the grand vision of developing a comprehensive software environment to facilitate research on radiation therapy treatment planning. CWG members will exchange ideas, experiment with their own software, develop and implement strategies for interfacing component software systems, and develop a rudimentary database of patient cases. By the end of the twelve-month timeframe, several hands-on demonstrations and exercises will have been developed to demonstrate proof-of-concept. The proof-of-concept experimentation will lay the foundation for a follow-up multi-year joint collaborative project phase of production-quality development in which a comprehensive database of patient cases and plan directives will be created, and a production-quality toolkit that meets researcher needs for dose calculation, modeling, optimization, and evaluation will be developed. The success of this project will advance frontiers of knowledge in several areas. First, the research allows objective analysis of computation and optimization algorithms that are viable for clinical use in treatment planning design. It will help to validate the correct implementation and usage of these algorithms and to understand their limitations. Second, the toolkit will provide a set of tools and a distribution method that will allow Quality Assurance Centers, research scientists, and clinicians to develop, validate and implement treatment plans that can be benchmarked against accepted standards, and will therefore help to advance the associated frontiers of knowledge. Third, the toolkit will foster interdisciplinary collaborations among clinicians, medical physicists, and optimization researchers as it offers a common planning environment with patient cases and evaluation tools for objectively comparing plan quality resulting from different optimization techniques. Finally, from an educational standpoint, it offers a common treatment-planning platform in which Ph.D. students and residents among these three fields can be cross-trained so as to develop high-quality optimization and computational tools for Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) treatment planning design.