ABSTRACT
Accurate dose delivery is critical to achieve an optimal risk/benefit profile. Complicating this, are many uncertainties present throughout the process of staging, treatment planning, and implementation. Treatment delivery accuracy is critical for lung cancer treatment. Small tissue density variation within the same tissue type may only contribute negligible dose uncertainties, which allow tissue-type-based magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-to-computed tomography (CT) density conversion for potential MRI-based treatment planning. Breathing irregularities are one of the biggest uncertainties when treating pulmonary malignancies with radiation. As positron emission tomography (PET) images have low spatial resolution limited by the detector size, partial volume effect is one of major uncertainties. PET imaging has been used as a guide to the physician during gross tumor volume delineation. Since their introduction, PET/CT scanners have become widely prevalent in oncology and are crucial for the diagnosis and staging of lung cancer.
