Book III: Scientific and Research Applications in Medical Care: RADPLANET—A New Integrated Radiation Therapy Planning Facility Structured as a Local Area Computer Network

RADPLANET is an integrated information management and computing resource structured as a packet broadcast local area network for the Radiation Oncology Service. Computed tomography as input to the radiation treatment planning and delivery process is central to the RADPLANET system design. The initial network implementation plan has therefore been extended to include resources for the CT scanner service within its structure.

The RADPLANET concept has implications extending beyond radiation therapy planning. A strong case can now be made for the idea that the future of radiology as a medical specialty will be based on the acquisition, processing, storage, transmission, retrieval, manipulation and interpretation of digital images (rather than conventional radiographs). RADPLANET design addresses the issues of a total radiology information system in the context of the rapidly emerging importance of digital radiography.