July 18, 2011 — The new releases of Elekta's XiO treatment planning system and Focal contouring system (v. 4.62) will enable clinicians to develop and deliver radiation therapy plans more efficiently.
The XiO enhancements include an improved intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) segmentation algorithm, fluence map smoothing and DICOM dose import via Focal. Focal now provides improved tools for contouring, enabling clinicians to contour anatomy faster and more easily. Together, these new XiO and Focal features contribute to an approximate 30 percent reduction in segments and approximate 20 percent reduction in IMRT monitor units (MU)*, which translates into lower integral dose and faster treatment times.
Focal 4.62 now also features plan summation for any number of plans, allowing physicians to determine the cumulative dosimetric effects. The summed dose from multiple plans can be saved into a single plan.
In addition, the planning and contouring improvements support Elekta linear accelerators using MLCi2, which allows for multiple apertures and potentially fewer MUs to be delivered to the patient.
*Data collected by Elekta on Smart Sequencing compared to step-and-shoot XiO plans.
For more information: www.elekta.com