Background: Radiotherapy is one of the earliest fields in Medicine in which computers have made an inroad. The main uses of computers, which include treatment planning, dose calculations, localization of tumors, verification of patient setups and radiation beam data acquisition, are highlighted in this paper. It is believed that a modern Radiotherapy department cannot function optimally without some form of computing facilities. Aim: To discus the use of computers in the radiotherapy department of Institute of Oncology in Sarajevo Bosnia and Herzegovina Methods and Materials: In 1999, a first and in the 2005 the second linear accelerator were installed in our department for external radiotherapy, supported with CMS and Precise Plan planning systems. In the department for Brachytherapy we installed GamaMed plus High Dose Brachytherapy machine with Ir 192 radioactive sources, and ABACUS planning system. The patients were treated with 1D, 2D and 3D planning systems. Results: There were around 2300 patients treated in our department for external radiotherapy and 250 patients yearly treated in our department for brachytherapy. Of these 1500 with 1D were irradiated, 500 with 2D and 250 with 3D planning treatments, with constant tendency of increase in 3D planning for about 20% yearly. Conclusion: New equipment supported with new sophisticate planning systems enabled us to treat more patients in the more accurate way in less time. We are now approaching European standards in this field of medicine.
Key words: Radiotherapy, computers, cancer
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