RT-utils: A Minimal Python Library for RT-struct Manipulation

TL;DR

RT-utils is a Python library designed to simplify manipulation and conversion of radiotherapy DICOM structures, facilitating AI-based analysis and radiomics workflows in medical imaging.

Contribution

It introduces a minimal, efficient tool for converting RT-struct contours into standardized formats, improving data processing for medical imaging AI applications.

Findings

Widely used since 2020 in medical imaging workflows

Enables accurate conversion of RT-struct contours to masks

Streamlines data preparation for AI models

Abstract

Towards the need for automated and precise AI-based analysis of medical images, we present RT-utils, a specialized Python library tuned for the manipulation of radiotherapy (RT) structures stored in DICOM format. RT-utils excels in converting the polygon contours into binary masks, ensuring accuracy and efficiency. By converting DICOM RT structures into standardized formats such as NumPy arrays and SimpleITK Images, RT-utils optimizes inputs for computational solutions such as AI-based automated segmentation techniques or radiomics analysis. Since its inception in 2020, RT-utils has been used extensively with a focus on simplifying complex data processing tasks. RT-utils offers researchers a powerful solution to enhance workflows and drive significant advancements in medical imaging.