Tutorial¶

This tutorial starts with a brief descrition of the main GUI window and some of the key operations that can performed. Following that a simple case of how to creat a new XML beam, how to modify an existing XML beam, insert an imaging point and how to create an XML beam from a DICOM-RT file.

Veritas workflow¶

Current version of veritas has two main functions. It lets the user enter a) a new control point and b) add imaging points to the XML beam. A flowchart showing two central functions is shown in Figure 1.

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Figure1: Flowchart showing a typical veritas workflow

The main window¶

The main window of the GUI looks as follows:

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Figure (2) The main window of varian veritas

Some of the key icons and their functions are in the following section.

Push Buttons

Beam ON : Guides a users through a series of steps for creating a XML beam from scratch.
Imaging : Lets user insert kV or MV imaging points for a given XML beam.

Menu Icons

New: Same as Beam ON.
Open: Lets user open an existing XML file and modify control points.
dc2xml: Convert a given DICOM-RT file to an XML beam.

Creating a new XML beam¶

1) The first control point: The first control point some extra info needs to be added.

$images\\headerinfo.png$

Figure (3) Insert energy, MLC model, dose rate and other informations

2) Control point and various axes: Enter rest of the values for first control point and add other control points

$images\\controlpoint2.png$

Figure (4) Insert values corresponding to various TrueBeam axes

Note

Control point navigation panel gives a user a set of options for accessing control points. There are currently five opitions avilable to a user.

Next: Go to the next control points
Previous: Go to previous control point
First: Jump to first control point
Last: Jump to last control point
Random access box: Directly go to any control points.

3) Save the points:

Before moving on to the next ste values for control points please make sure to add/edit values by pressing green add button in Figure 3.

4) Add more control points

Add as many control points as needed.

5) Save and generate XML beam

After having added the control points please press the Generate XML button and a final XML beam will be genrated. The Generated XML window in Figure 1 shows that user gets a first glimpse of the file.

Note

The file can also accessed via Open XML file option as show in the figure 1.

For sanity check user can plot the generated XML file

Adding imaging points¶

During treatment images

In treatment imaging captures images concurrent with the MV therapeutic beam. Logically, imaging points are specified as MU vs. position trajectory. A user is presented with a screen with an option to choose from kV or MV image as shown in Figure 5

1) Fill in kV or MV parameters

$images\\kVimagingWindow.png$

Figure (5) Main imaging window with the option of insert kV as well MV images

User can add imaging points and proceed to next point.

2) Choose image modes

Current version gives user 4 kV and 6 MV image mode options. These are shown in figures 6 and 7.

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Figure (6) Image modes avilable for kV imaging

$images\\MVImageMode.png$

Figure (7) Image modes avilable for MV imaging

3) Finish entering imaging points

After having add all the imaging points user can press the done button.

Modify an existing XML beam¶

To modify an existing XML user can choose a beam through open beam option and

then modify diffrent controll point values.

The interface for this section is same as in section 2.
Imaging points can also inserted as described in section 3.

Convert DICOM-RT to XML¶

To convert a DICOM-RT file to the XML beam a user can pick a file by choosing

dcm2xml button.

Once the XML beam is generated, it can modified as described in the previous section.

Extra functions¶

Plot functions¶

Currently, MU vs Gantry Rotation function can be plotted for a given XML beam. A typical XML plot is shown in Figure (8)

$images\\MUvsGantry.png$

Figure (8) An example of MU vs Gantry rotation plot

XML beam in a text editor¶

A typical XML file generated by Veritas can be accessed through a text editor (shown in Notepad++). The text editor functionality gives the user flexibitly to control the generated XMl file by hand.

$images\\Output_notepad.png$

Figure (9) An XML file shown in a text editor (shown in Notepad++)