Optimizing Needle Placement in Treatment Planning of Radiofrequency Ablation

摘要

A computational method is presented for optimizing needle placement in radiofrequency ablation treatment planning. The parameterized search is guided by an objective function that depends on transient, finite element solutions of coupled thermal and potential equations for each needle placement. A framework is introduced for solving the electrostatic equation by using boundary elements to model the needle as discrete current sources embedded within a finite element mesh. This method permits finite element solutions for multiple needle placements without remeshing. We demonstrate that the method produces a search space amenable to gradient-based optimization techniques.