The Adjoint Method for The Optimization of Brachytherapy and Radiotherapy Patient Treatment Planning Procedures Using Monte Carlo Calculations
The goal of this project is to investigate the use of the adjoint method, commonly used in the reactor physics community, for the optimization of radiation therapy patient treatment plans. Two different types of radiation therapy are being examined, interstitial brachytherapy and radiotherapy. In brachytherapy radioactive sources are surgically implanted within the diseased organ such as the prostate to treat the cancerous tissue. With radiotherapy, the x-ray source is usually located at a distance of about 1-metere from the patient and focused on the treatment area. For brachytherapy the optimization phase of the treatment plan consists of determining the optimal placement of the radioactive sources, which delivers the prescribed dose to the disease tissue while simultaneously sparing (reducing) the dose to sensitive tissue and organs. For external beam radiation therapy the optimization phase of the treatment plan consists of determining the optimal direction and intensity of beam, which provides complete coverage of the tumor region with the prescribed dose while simultaneously avoiding sensitive tissue areas. For both therapy methods, the optimal treatment plan is one in which the diseased tissue has been treated with the prescribed dose and dose to the sensitive tissue and organs has been kept to a minimum.
- Research Organization:
- University of Wisconsin- Madison (US)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- FG07-99ID13774
- OSTI ID:
- 793490
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/ID/13774; TRN: US0201347
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: 30 Oct 2001
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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