Interactively exploring optimized treatment plans

Using TPEx, the physician can easily select the optimum plan for a patient, with no imposed arbitrary definition of the “best” plan. More importantly, the physician can readily see what can be achieved for the patient with a given delivery technique. There is no more uncertainty about whether or not a better plan exists. By comparing the “best” plans for different delivery options (e.g., three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy versus intensity-modulated radiation therapy), the physician can gauge the clinical benefits of greater technical complexity. However, before the TPEx process can be clinical useful, faster computers and/or algorithms are needed and more studies are needed to better model the spaces of optimized solutions.