In-house quality check of external beam plans using 3D treatment planning systems - a DVH comparison

This paper presents a new approach towards the quality assurance of external beam plans using in-house-developed DICOM import and export software in a clinical setup. The new approach is different from what is currently used in most clinics, viz., only MU and point dose are verified. The DICOM-RT software generates ASCII files to import/export structure sets, treatment beam data, and dose-volume histograms (DVH) from one treatment planning system (TPS) to the other. An efficient and reliable 3D planning system, ROPS, was used for verifying the accuracy of treatment plans and treatment plan parameters. With the use of this new approach, treatment plans planned using Varian Eclipse planning system were exported to ROPS planning system. Important treatment and dosimetrical data, such as the beam setup accuracy, target dose coverage, and dose to critical structures, were also quantitatively verified using DVH comparisons. Two external beam plans with diverse photon energies were selected to test the new approach. The satisfactory results show that the new approach is feasible, easy to use, and can be used as an adjunct test for patient treatment quality check.