Impact of treatment planning quality assurance software on volumetric-modulated arc therapy plans for prostate cancer patients

IntroductionSoftware that evaluates the quality of treatment plans (PlanIQ^TM) has become commercially available in recent years. It includes a feasibility assessment tool that provides the ideal dose volume histogram (DVH) for each organ at risk, based on the ideal dose falloff from the prescribed dose at the target boundary. It is important to investigate whether the PlanIQ^TM assessment tool (Feasibility DVH^TM) can assist treatment planners who have limited to no experience in treatment planning. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate this tool's usefulness for improving the quality of treatment plans.Materials & MethodsThis study included 5 patients with prostate cancer. The treatment planners were 2 graduate students, 2 undergraduate students, and one clinical planner. All students were radiological technology and medical physics students with no clinical experience. Two different volumetric-modulated arc therapy (VMAT) plans were developed before and after Feasibility DVH^TM. The quality of each treatment plan was evaluated based on a scoring system implemented in PlanIQ^TM.ResultsOf 5 patients included, 4 received improved treatment plans when Feasibility DVH^TM was used. Moreover, 4 of 5 treatment planners showed improvement in treatment planning using Feasibility DVH^TM.ConclusionsThe findings suggest that using the Feasibility DVH^TM tool may improve treatment plans for different planners and patients. However, planners at any level of experience should be trained to check the dose distribution in addition to checking the DVH, which depends on the adequacy of the contours.