The verification of an inverse problem in radiation therapy.

The inverse problem in radiation therapy presents a solution for a fluence distribution based on the specification of a region of dose in a patient. We show results for one such solution based on the inversion of an integral over a function of the fluence profile of a rotating beam. We use Monte Carlo methods and numerical integrations to evaluate dose distributions obtained with the inverse method and show the limitations of this theoretical approach. Our results show that dose to a single circular region at an arbitrary position in a 2-dimensional volume can be calculated. Uniform dose to arbitrarily shaped regions cannot be calculated with this formalism, although practical solutions can still be obtained.