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.

These Quicktime movies illustrate 3D localization, visualization and treatment of a choroidal melanoma: movie1 (1.3 MB), movie2 (1.4 MB).

Plaque Simulator is distributed worldwide by BEBIG GmbH, Robert-Rössle-Str. 10, 13125 Berlin, Germany, Tel. (+49 30) 98 10 84-0, 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.

A fully functional demonstration version and the tutorial patients described in the user guide can be downloaded from the links on the left. The MacOS9 version is tested only with MacOS 9.2 but should run under any version of OS9. Plaque Simulator X (the OSX version) requires MacOSX 10.3 (panther) or 10.4 (Tiger). It might run under OSX 10.2 (jaguar) but performance will be very sluggish due to a bug in the 10.2 OS.

Technical support by video conferencing is available via iChatAV, AIM Screen Name: astrahan@mac.com. 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. For technical support outside the USA or for worldwide licensing information email kristin.sgraja@bebig.de or Kerstin Gottke kerstin.gottke@bebig.de.