The reconstruction and dose-rate calculation of radium needle implants

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Abstract
A comprehensive computer program was developed for various tasks associated with Rd needle implants in human tumor treatment. Data input for the program are obtained by digitizing an orthogonal pair of radiographs with an analog tracing system. Corresponding needles in the 2 radiographs were automatically located and the implant was rotated to any desired position in a 3-dimensional space, at the same time presenting a view of the rotation on a storage oscilloscope. Automatic determination of the mean plane of a planar implant was possible, and the dose-rate distribution was calculated in any specified plane. A Paterson-Parker exposure rate calculation may be performed with a biological dose and treatment time correction incorporated. The program was written in Fortran and run on a small interactive computer system.