Begin by launching the Radiation Planning Assistant, or RPA. Then go to the service request dashboard on RPA interface by clicking the service request channel. Then click on the new form to generate a new request form.
Complete the questions under the first section titled Demographics. Then select the treatment technique from the treatment pull-down menu. Click on the information icon in the treatment technique pull-down menu to access further details of the treatment technique.
Next, complete the questions in the second section titled Treatment General Questions. Now move to section three titled Treatment Specific Questions and complete the questions including the details of the treatment targets and prescription. Click on submit to generate the service request PDF.
Select the patient in the patient list. Review the service request PDF, and click accept to approve it. Next, go to the CT Scans dashboard by clicking on the CT Scans channel.
Select the option, upload CT and pick the folder where the CT scan is stored using folder explorer. Follow the prompts to confirm the selection. Select the patient in the patient list to review the corresponding uploaded CT scan.
Then load the entire 3D CT image by clicking on load 3D. Now scroll between the slices in all views using forward or backward buttons located below the CT view to move to the next slice. Click the right shift or left shift buttons to move five slices in either direction.
Alternatively, move the cursor over any view and use the mouse to scroll between the slices. The Intersect button can also be clicked to overlay a cross hair on each CT view. Then click on any of the three views to move the cross hair, causing the other views to follow accordingly.
Zoom into the image to further review it using the zoom pan button. Then right click and hold down a CT view using the mouse to zoom. Click on marked ISO to move the CT views to the marked ISO center.
To add a reference point, first, move the three views to the desired reference point location by using the intersect tool. Next, click on the Ref Point button to add a reference point. To add a new reference point, clear the current point by clicking on clear ref point.
Then add a new one. Accept the CT scan. Then answer the questions below the CT images to minimize risk and reduce errors in the subsequent RPA calculations.
Now click on accept and follow the prompts. To begin the monitoring process, first, review a completed RPA plan by selecting the patient and choosing review at the top of the main dashboard. Download a completed RPA plan by clicking on the download icon.
When a new window opens, the DICOM files, along with the PDF version of the RPA plan report, will be downloaded for import into the treatment planning system. To upload the final plan to the website, select the patient and click upload plan. Choose the DICOM Structure file, Plan, and Dose Files for upload.
Finally, review the plan comparison report by selecting the patient. An example of a lateral field from a whole brain radiotherapy plan is shown here, while a lateral field from a bony landmark-based four field box plan for cervical cancer is also shown. In both cases, the RPA created a final plan report after downloading and importing the user's treatment planning system.
The service request dashboard provides a quick status overview of the service request for current patients in the RPA.