DIRECT COMPENSATOR PROFILE OPTIMIZATION FOR INTENSITY MODULATED RADIATION THERAPY TREATMENT PLANNING

摘要

Radiation therapy is a widely used and highly effective technique for the treatment of cancer, however the commissioning and delivery of a course of external beam radiation is a complex process with numerous challenges. This paper will present new developments that aim to improve both the planning and delivery of this important cancer treatment technique. Specifically, this work develops a new direct delivery parameter optimization approach for planning of solid compensator intensity modulated radiation therapy, coined Direct Compensator Profile Optimization (DCPO). In order to understand the benefits and implications of this new DCPO approach, a reasonable understanding of the field of radiation therapy is needed. Therefore, this document will include a brief discussion of the history and relevant background information in the area of radiation therapy. It is intended that this background information is detailed enough so that the remainder of this research can be followed by those without existing experience in the field of radiation treatment planning. The specific details of this new approach will be then be presented followed by a display of initial results to verify the performance.