A Response Surface-Based Approach to Beam Orientation Optimization in IMRT Treatment Planning

摘要

Every year, hundreds of thousands of patients receive cancer treatment by radiation therapy wherein beams of radiation kill both cancerous and normal cells.Current treatment plans deliver radiation from equi equi- spaced coplanar beams, but better plans may be obtained by optimizing the beam orientations . Because of the size of the beam orientation optimization (BOO) problem, previous BOO work has largely optimized over a small subset of coplanar beams. Our response surface-based approach to BOO allows for the inclusion of noncoplanar beams. We show that high-quality plans can be obtained using fewer beams than standard equi-spaced beam plans if BOO is applied.