Concept of a PACS and imaging informatics-based server for radiation therapy

Radiation Therapy (RT) is an image-based treatment. It requires images from projection X-rays, computed tomography, magnetic resonance, positron emission tomography, Linear Accelerator for tumor localization, treatment planning and verification of treatment plans. During the treatment process, patient's images are transmitted to every necessary station in the RT department. However, images of the same patient are generally scattered and there is no permanent home base for them due to the nature and traditional organization of the RT department. The advance in diagnostic picture archiving and communication system and the establishment of RT DICOM Standard provide an opportunity to define and design an RT server as a means to organize RT images and related data. This paper describes the RT workflow and the concept of the DICOM RT server. An example of RT treatment of nasopharyngeal carcinoma based on the RT server concept is given. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.