According to Dr. Ira Kalet, Associate Professor in Radiation Oncology, there are billions of possible treatments one might consider in a patient's treatment plan. In a typical complex radiation treatment, the patient receives radiation from approximately six to twenty different directions using the same machine turned on and off as the patient and the machine turns.
Prism shows all of the radiation beams and their directions at once.
For example, there is a class, pstruct, that defines a general three-dimensional anatomic object, and there are subclasses for organs, tumors, and targets. Prism's user interface makes available as many operations as possible to the user at all times. The user interface contains a screen window that includes controls such as dials for angles, sliders for adjustable numbers, text input boxes, for targeted text, etc. A patient administrative information panel, as well as individual panels for treatment plans and radiation beams, complete the amount of user-accessible information available at time of treatment. Prism allows the user to bring up simultaneously any number of these or other component-specific panels during the session.