An optimization based treatment planning system for interstitial thermo-radiotherapy and thermal ablation

The following work is part of our ongoing efforts to develop a robust and efficient optimization based treatment planning system for interstitial thermo-radiotherapy and thermal ablation procedures for cancer treatment. We formulate a minimax based optimization system to determine catheter placements, radioactive source strengths, and power settings of heating applicators needed to deliver a prescribed dose distribution. Using interstitial ultrasound applicators, we demonstrate the feasibility of this approach in thermal therapy for treating a brain tumor. The proposed optimization approach ensures robustness with respect to the dose prescriptions and provides a clinically relevant measure to quantify the merit of the treatment plan.