ABSTRACT
In Vienna, with the opening of the New General Hospital (AKH) in 1993, there was more potential for linking volumetric imaging to brachytherapy applications. In 1996, a planning system became available that allowed for entering computed tomography (CT) images, which was from then on used for image-based gynecologic applications for radical treatment and partly for other brachytherapy sites. The generation of dose volume histograms (DVHs) became possible based on both clinical tumor volume (CTV) and organs at risk (OARs) contouring. In parallel, an open magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was implemented in order to develop MRI-based treatment planning in radiotherapy in general and for brachytherapy applications in particular. However, up to the late 1990s, radiography-based dose planning was still the state of the art at the University Department of Radiotherapy, Vienna, for all tumor sites: breast, gynecology, prostate (US), head and neck, anus, esophagus, and bronchus.
