Start here · Students & new planners

I’m planning my first prostate case

A learning roadmap: the concepts and resources to understand before planning definitive prostate IMRT/VMAT. It is not instruction on how to treat any specific patient.

  1. Understand the anatomy

    Why the rectum, bladder and urethra shape every prostate plan.

  2. Understand setup and daily variation

    Bladder filling, rectal emptying, fiducials, MRI and spacers.

  3. Understand the target volumes

    Prostate, seminal vesicles, nodes and the PTV.

  4. Review contouring resources

    Organ contouring guides for the pelvis.

  5. Understand Vx and the DVH

    Why pelvic limits are written as ladders of volume thresholds.

  6. Review common dose constraints

    Limits for 60 Gy/20 fx and 78–80 Gy/39–40 fx, with the study behind each.

  7. Understand hotspots and the urethra

    Where hot spots matter inside a target the urethra runs through.

  8. Review the key trials

    CHHiP, RTOG 0126, RTOG 0924 and PACE-B.

  9. Understand basic plan evaluation

    Putting coverage, DVH ladders and hotspots together.