View article

To investigate whether an overlap volume histogram (OVH)‐driven planning application using an intensity‐modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) database can guide and automate volumetric‐modulated arc therapy (VMAT) planning for head‐and‐neck cancer.

Based on comparable head‐and‐neck dosimetric results between planner‐generated VMAT and IMRT plans, an inhouse developed, OVH‐driven automated planning application containing a database of prior clinical head‐and‐neck IMRT plans is built into Pinnacle³ SmartArc for VMAT planning. Double‐arc VMAT plans of four oropharynx, four nasopharynx, and four larynx patients are generated and compared with corresponding clinical IMRT plans.

Each VMAT plan is automatically generated in two optimization rounds, while the average number of optimization rounds in generating a clinical IMRT plan is 43. In VMAT plans …