Module 1

Unit 1: Familiarisation with Prism



An overview of how to navigate through the different Prism panels can be  found here: .

  • After Prism, the opens.

    • Try to understand the differences between Select/Archive and Retrieve/Checkpoint using the explanations of the Patient panel in the pop-up window above.

    • Load patient “8 Phantom for Comparison”, Case 1 from the archive by using the Select-button.

    • Enter your name in a new line in the textbox and click on Accept cmts.

    • Save the phantom to the checkpoint database. Select "My own storage" in the panel that pops up when pressing the Checkpoint-button.


NoteMost of the panels contain a Delete Panel-Button (labelled "Del Pan") to close the panel!

  • Open PLAN 1. The allows you to add/modify beams, to select display options and to compute the dose distribution.

    • Create views by selecting Add a view. Create a transverse, a coronal, a sagittal and a beam’s eye view. Select small size and arrange the windows so that they do not overlap. - .
NoteIn some panels you find a slide without a label. This is the magnification slide.

Note You can find some explanation about what you can see in the different views

    • Try to pan the graphical content of a window, use the ruler to measure the width of the beam (and delete it), change the magnification of the picture and add/remove objects to/from the view. (Hint: Have a look at the .)

      •

  • All the settings of a beam can be modified in the .

    • Change the field size by changing the collimator settings (COLL X and COLL Y) and observe how the views are updated.

    • Change the beam colour and the couch, gantry and collimator settings.

    • Set the beam to standard settings (see information box below).

    • Find the dose grid markers in the View panel and place them around the phantom.

    • Compute the dose in the Plan panel (Hint: if you can’t see the isodose lines you might have to change the slice position).

    • Try to change different settings in the Beam panel like the machine type and the energy of the beam. Find out when you have to recompute the dose.

    Information box: Standard settingsHenceforth, when talking about standard settings, the following settings are referred to:
    • Fieldsize: 10x10 cm²
    • Source-to-surface distance (SSD): 100cm (CouchHT = 0cm)
    • Energy: 6 MV
    • Collimator rotation: 0°
    • Couch rotation: 0°
    • Gantry rotation: 0°


  • Some points of interest have been created and are numbered 0-14. You can find these points in the different view panels.

    • In the Plan panel, open the , compute the dose and change the MU settings. The doses of all points of interest are shown. You can change the dose received by a certain point and see how that changes the MUs required. Since this is an important point in treatment planning take enough time to understand which changes influence which doses/number of MUs.
    •

Some of the buttons/fields in the different panels are not explained in the links/pop-up menus. Find out about their function on your own.

Ex. 1: Find out the function of the “Local”- and the “Remote”-Buttons in the View panel. (Hint: You will need more than one view to understand this function.)

Ex. 2: Find out the function of the “Axis ON/OFF”-button in the Beam panel.

(Here you can find the .)

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