Plaque Simulator is a 3D treatment simulation and modeling package for I-125, Pd-103, Ir-192 and Ru-106 plaque therapy of ocular tumors and macular degeneration. Applicable ophthalmic tumors include choroidal melanoma in adults, retinoblastoma in young children and various forms of metastatic disease. In plaque therapy, small radioactive sources are embedded in a gold or silver bowl-like shell called a "plaque" which is placed on the surface of the eye adjacent to the tumor. The plaque directs therapeutic radiation towards the tumor while shielding the orbit and other surrounding anatomy.

The video below illustrates some of the features of Plaque Simulator image based treatment planning which fuses CT or MR imaging, ultrasound and fundus photography to build a detailed model of each patient's eye. In this example isodose lines are plotted on the meridian plane passing through the tumor apex, as well as isodose tinting of the retinal surface, a translucent isodose surface enclosing the tumor mass, and points of interest along the central axis of the plaque. Also seen are the rectus and oblique muscle attachments, the lens, optic nerve, I-125 seeds inside the plaque, the plaque shell, and its suture eyelets with their coordinate projections onto the scleral surface. These suture coordinates are provided to the surgeon to simplify implanting the plaque. This movie was created using PS version 5.62.

Plaque Simulator is distributed worldwide by BEBIG GmbH, Robert-Rössle-Str. 10, 13125 Berlin, Germany, Tel. (+49 30) 94 10 84-130, Fax (+49 30) 94 10 84-150, URL: www.bebig.de under an exclusive license from the University of Southern California. BEBIG is a division of Eckert & Ziegler AG, email info@ezag.de.

A fully functional demonstration version and the tutorial patients described in the user guide can be downloaded from the links on the left. Plaque Simulator (PS) version 5.3.9 (released 2009) and the latest weekly development build version 5.6x have been tested on MacOSX 10.4 (Tiger), 10.5 (Leopard) and 10.6 (Snow Leopard). PS version 5.xx does NOT run under MacOSX 10.7 (Lion) as PS still maintains backward compatibility with older computers with PowerPC processors. A Lion compatible release (Intel processor only) is planned for late spring 2012.

Technical support by video conferencing is available via iChatAV. In the USA, email technical support questions, bug reports and requests for teleconferencing appointments to the author Melvin Astrahan in Los Angeles at astrahan@usc.edu or support@eyephysics.com. For technical support outside the USA or for worldwide licensing information email info@ezag.de.