Authors: Rebecca Barrett, MS, CMD, Rob Hale, MS, CPhT, Nishele Lenards, PhD, CMD, RT(R)(T), FAAMD, Ashley Hunzeker, MS, CMD, Sabrina Zeiler, MS, CMD, RT(T)

Medical Dosimetry Program at the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse, WI

Though dosimetry has a multitude of treatment modalities, software, and workflows to aid in the treatment planning process, treatment planners are still responsible for several tedious and monotonous tasks that could decrease their planning efficiency. The purpose of this study was to determine if scripting could improve treatment planning efficiency for multiple brain lesion stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) volumetric arc therapy cases by reducing planning time commitment. A script was developed for multiple brain lesion SRS cases using Eclipse scripting application programming interface with the intention of improving treatment planning efficiency by creating optimization structures and importing prescription and suggested OS dose metrics to the optimizer. Nine treatment planners were each provided with 3 different multiple brain lesion, single-isocenter SRS cases. Each planner created 2 plans for each case. One of these 2 plans used the SRS script, and the other did not. There were 54 treatment plans developed, totaling 27 plan comparisons. Each of the 54 treatment plans were considered clinically acceptable based on the participating institution’s plan quality guidelines. Statistical analyses of planning time commitment with and without the SRS script were performed using RStudio. The mean and median planning times with and without the SRS script were compared using a paired T-test and Wilcoxon Signed Rank test, respectively, and effect size was evaluated using Cohen’s classification. Using the SRS script resulted in statistically significant reduction in total contouring time (11.3 vs 2.8 minutes, p < 0.001), optimizer preparation time (7.7 vs 2.1 minutes, p < 0.001), and overall planning time (105.1 vs 77.9 minutes, p< 0.001). This study concluded that scripts developed using Eclipse scripting application programming interface offer an opportunity to improve treatment planning efficiency by reducing the planning time commitment for treatment planners.

As of January 1, 2022, ARRT requires CE Credits for Directed Journal Readings to be based on the word count for each article. So, the number of CE Credits for each DJR article will vary for ARRT. For this article, the ARRT CE Credit will be 0.75 Credit. The MDCB CE Credits will remain at 2.5 Credits.

ARRT CQR Credit Distribution

Radiation Therapy 2017:
Procedures        
   Prescription and Dose Calculation = 0.5

Radiation Therapy 2022:
Procedures   
   Prescription and Dose Calculation = 0.5