Accounting for uncertainties in RT: adaptive therapy and robust optimization

During radiation therapy, the patient’s anatomical state is not static. Many different factors contribute to a shifting picture, and it is essential to account for uncertainties in order to ensure the quality of the treatment plan. In the first half of this webinar, Niek Scheuder, Chief Medical Physicist, will share his experience from implementing an adaptive planning workflow with RayStation at the Provision Center for Proton Therapy. In the second half, Cameron Ditty, Senior Physicist, will explain the concept of robustness in RayStation, illustrating with practical examples. Robust optimization handles possible variations that are not sufficiently accounted for by PTV. The resulting plan maintains target coverage while reducing dose to critical structures, even if anatomical changes or positional errors occur.