Book excerpt: Treatment Planning and Dose Calculation in Radiation Oncology, Third Edition describes the treatment methods and technical guides as models of contemporary radiation therapy. These models should be modified for each individual patient to yield a best fit to the disease being treated and the radiation sources employed. This book is composed of seven chapters, and begins with an overview of the elements of clinical radiation oncology. The subsequent chapter deals with the production, interaction, and measurement of radiation. These topics are followed by intensive discussions of dose calculation for external beams and pretreatment procedures of radiation therapy. A chapter looks into the principles, apparatus, and dose calculation in brachytherapy. The final chapters describe the principles and practical applications of treatment planning. This book will be of value to radiation oncologists.