Exploration of Overlap Volumes for Radiotherapy Plan Evaluation with the Aim of Healthy Tissue Sparing

TL;DR

This paper introduces an interactive visualization method for radiotherapy plan evaluation focusing on overlap volumes to better spare healthy tissue, supported by a user study with domain experts.

Contribution

A novel visualization approach that incorporates overlap volume analysis into radiotherapy plan evaluation to improve healthy tissue sparing.

Findings

Visualizations aid in identifying critical overlap regions.

Interactions improve understanding of dose and physical properties.

Method enhances detection of dose hot spots.

Abstract

Purpose: Development of a novel interactive visualization approach for the exploration of radiotherapy treatment plans with a focus on overlap volumes with the aim of healthy tissue sparing. Methods: We propose a visualization approach to include overlap volumes in the radiotherapy treatment plan evaluation process. Quantitative properties can be interactively explored to identify critical regions and used to steer the visualization for a detailed inspection of candidates. We evaluated our approach with a user study covering the individual visualizations and their interactions regarding helpfulness, comprehensibility, intuitiveness, decision-making and speed. Results: A user study with three domain experts was conducted using our software and evaluating five data sets each representing a different type of cancer and location by performing a set of tasks and filling out a questionnaire. The results show that the visualizations and interactions help to identify and evaluate overlap volumes according to their physical and dose properties. Furthermore, the task of finding dose hot spots can also benefit from our approach. Conclusions: The results indicate the potential to enhance the current treatment plan evaluation process in terms of healthy tissue sparing.