DICOM RT planning (RTPLAN/RTDOSE)

Overview

DICOM RTPLAN and RTDOSE are the DICOM standard objects that together encode a radiotherapy treatment plan: RTPLAN stores beam geometry, field parameters, fractionation, and dose prescription; RTDOSE stores the computed 3D dose distribution in the patient coordinate system. Both are linked via Frame of Reference UID to the simulation CT and RT-STRUCT contours. Together with DICOM RT-STRUCT, these objects form the complete RT planning DICOM triplet used in multi-modal clinical research archives.

Cross-reference: dicom-rt-struct stores the spatial contours (gross tumor, organs at risk) referenced by RTPLAN/RTDOSE. Both DICOM objects are part of the same RT planning chain. The distinction: RT-STRUCT defines where to treat; RTPLAN/RTDOSE define how dose is delivered and what dose distribution results.

Used by

  • PMID:30179230 — HNSCC imaging archive at MD Anderson includes RTPLAN and RTDOSE files for 215 patients treated with curative-intent radiotherapy; re-exported from Pinnacle v9.6 (Philips Radiation Oncology Systems) after primary clinical use; mean prescribed dose 68.66 Gy (range 56–72 Gy) in 28–40 fractions using techniques spanning 2D RT, IMRT, and volumetric arc therapy; curation required resolving Frame of Reference UID mismatches between RT structure sets and source CTs for 90.7% of cases PMID:30179230.
  • PMID:41941260 — DICOM RT plan archiving is used in the ROBIN consortium METEOR project (NCT05975593): 126 DICOM-RT plans from locally advanced cervical and pancreatic cancer patients are archived to support dose-response modeling and CBCT delta radiomics integration; the CBCT Working Group (CBCT WG) is standardizing RTPLAN/RTDOSE data harmonization across ROBIN institutions PMID:41941260.

Notes

  • RTPLAN/RTDOSE re-calculation during export from Pinnacle in the MD Anderson archive means the archived dose distributions reflect re-calculated rather than original treatment delivery parameters; users should account for this in dose-volume histogram analyses PMID:30179230.
  • The HNSCC archive combination of simulation CT + RT-STRUCT + RTPLAN + RTDOSE enables inter-institutional benchmarking of dose-volume relationships and supports modeling of toxicity outcomes from delivered dose distributions PMID:30179230.

Sources

This page was processed by crosslinker on 2026-04-30.