Analysis of dose rate robustness against uncertainties in radiation treatment planning

Abstract

Presented systems and methods enable efficient and effective robust radiation treatment planning and treatment, including analysis of dose rate robustness. In one embodiment, a method comprising accessing treatment plan information, accessing information corresponding to an uncertainty associated with implementation of the radiation treatment plan, and generating a histogram, wherein the histogram conveys a characteristic of the treatment plan including an impact of the uncertainty on the characteristic. The histogram can be a dose rate volume histogram and can be utilized to test a degree of robustness of a treatment plan (e.g., including allowance for uncertainty scenarios, etc.). The uncertainty can be associated with potential variation associated with tolerances (e.g., radiation system/machine performance tolerance, patient characteristic tolerances, etc.) and set up issues (e.g., variation in initial system/machine set up, variation patient setup/position, etc.).