Simultaneous ThermoBrachytherapy: Electromagnetic Simulation Methods for Fast and Accurate Adaptive Treatment Planning

The combination of interstitial hyperthermia treatment (IHT) with high dose rate brachytherapy (HDR‐BT) can improve clinical outcomes since it highly enhances the efficiency of cell kill, especially when applied simultaneously. Therefore, we have developed the ThermoBrachy applicators. To effectively apply optimal targeted IHT, treatment...

A Novel Framework for the Optimization of Simultaneous ThermoBrachyTherapy

In high-dose-rate brachytherapy (HDR-BT) for prostate cancer treatment, interstitial hyperthermia (IHT) is applied to sensitize the tumor to the radiation (RT) dose, aiming at a more efficient treatment. Simultaneous application of HDR-BT and IHT is anticipated to provide maximum radiosensitization of the tumor. With this rationale, the...

Automated prioritised 3D dose-based MLC segment generation for step-and-shoot IMRT

Segmentation can degrade a high-quality dose distribution obtained by fluence map optimisation (FMO). A novel algorithm is proposed for generation of MLC segments to deliver an FMO plan with step-and-shoot IMRT while minimising quality loss. All beams are considered simultaneously while generating MLC segments for reproducing the 3D FMO dose...

Multicriteria Optimization for Radiotherapy

Radiotherapy is one of the main treatments for cancer, and a multi-disciplinary field of research, mostly involving medicine, physics and mathematics. The focus of this thesis lies in improvements for the treatment planning, which is a multi-criteria process. We have been constructing a new method to form the Pareto front for certain objectives....

Modeling geometrical uncertainties for radiotherapy plan optimization without margins

Radiotherapy is one of the methods used to treat cancer. One common approach for radiotherapy is exposing the patient to external beams of high-energy X-ray photons. Using the intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) technique, the fluence (radiation energy per unit area) of the radiation beams can be modulated to optimally shape the 3D high...