What is one of the main objectives of treatment planning in medical dosimetry?

One of the primary objectives of treatment planning in medical dosimetry is to optimize the dose delivered to the target volume while simultaneously minimizing the dose to the surrounding normal tissues. This is essential for several reasons.

Firstly, delivering an adequate and effective dose to the tumor or target area is critical to achieving the desired therapeutic outcome. However, it is equally important to protect healthy tissues nearby from unnecessary radiation exposure. Minimizing the dose to these normal tissues helps to reduce the risk of side effects and complications, thereby improving the overall safety and efficacy of the treatment.

In practice, this involves using advanced techniques and technologies to carefully calculate and shape the radiation dose distribution. Various treatment modalities, such as external beam radiation therapy or brachytherapy, require precise planning to ensure that the radiation conforms to the three-dimensional shape of the tumor while sparing healthy tissue as much as possible.

Enhancing the therapeutic ratio, which is the ratio of the dose that effectively treats the tumor to the dose that causes damage to healthy tissue, is a key focus of dosimetry. This objective aligns with the principles of radiation oncology, where the goal is to maximize cancer control while minimizing treatment-related morbidity.