An Automated Solution to Presenting Dose Distributions of Radiotherapy in a Hospital Information System
J Wu*, J Lin, A Pompos, D Sher, K Westover, R Timmerman, S Jiang, Y Yan, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX
Presentations
MO-I430-BReP-F2-1 (Monday, 7/11/2022) 4:30 PM - 5:30 PM [Eastern Time (GMT-4)]
Exhibit Hall | Forum 2
Purpose: The practice of Radiation Oncology is a part of a multidisciplinary healthcare system for patients with cancer, however the presentation of radiation therapy (RT) plans in a hospital information system (HIS) is not as complete as expected. Dose distributions of RT plans in digital format (not digital scans of plan documents) are needed in a HIS for better communications between multidisciplinary care teams. In this study, we present an in-house developed system that automatically sends to a HIS images of distributions that are readily accessible to all physicians.
Methods: Currently available HISs on the market lack the capability to articulate and present raw DICOM RT objects, however derived DICOM objects, such as Secondary Capture (SC) and Presentation State (PR) that are wildly supported, can be used to convey dose distribution information. To mitigate human intervention, an fully automated software system has been developed to 1) query a Treatment Management System (TMS) for a list of patients who have just finished RT treatments; 2) for each patient, extract plan information in DICOM format from Treatment Planning Systems (TPSs) and treatment records from the TMS; 3) parse extracted plan datasets and treatment records, and create derived SC or PR objects to render actually delivered doses; 4) send SC or PR objects to a HIS.
Results: RT plan dose distribution images are displayed in a HIS. Delivered absolute isodose lines in colors are clearly superimposed on planning images within a system that non-radiation oncologists are accustomed to using for viewing other images. The system is fully automated.
Conclusion: This system fulfils the clinical need for intuitive and quantitative presentation of radiation dose depositions in patients on a commonly used platform. Such an in-house developed add-on system complements commercial HISs with much needed functions for the field of radiation therapy.
Keywords
Taxonomy
IM/TH- Informatics: Informatics in Therapy (general)
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