STUDY: A Prototype Radiation Therapy Treatment Planning Research Toolkit

这项研究资助了由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的最初目标包括为基于网络的工具制定标准，这些标准将加强辐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，可供该治疗规划领域的同行审查，并征求这些同行中的一小部分人的审查和反馈。具体地说，该项目是一项概念验证研究，涉及讨论和工作，旨在制定一种设计，以支持开发一个全面的软件环境的宏伟愿景，以促进放射治疗治疗规划的研究。CWG成员将交流想法，试验他们自己的软件，开发和实施组件软件系统的接口策略，并开发患者病例的基本数据库。到12个月的时间框架结束时，将开发几个动手演示和练习，以演示概念验证。概念验证实验将为后续多年生产-质量开发联合项目阶段奠定基础，在该阶段将创建患者病例和计划指令的全面数据库，并将开发满足研究人员对剂量计算、建模、优化和评估需求的生产质量工具包。该项目的成功将推动几个领域的知识前沿。首先，这项研究允许对临床上可行的治疗计划设计的计算和优化算法进行客观分析。这将有助于验证这些算法的正确实施和使用，并了解它们的局限性。其次，该工具包将提供一套工具和一种分配方法，使质量保证中心、研究科学家和临床医生能够开发、验证和实施可根据公认标准进行基准的治疗计划，从而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，因为它提供了一个包含患者病例的通用规划环境和评估工具，用于客观比较不同优化技术产生的计划质量。最后，从教育的角度，它提供了一个通用的治疗计划平台，在这个平台上，这三个领域的博士生和住院医生可以进行交叉培训，从而开发出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.