Development of a continuous-time method for intensity-modulated radiation therapy treatment planning

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24560522
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Measurement engineering
• Research Institution: The University of Tokushima
• Principal Investigator: YOSHINAGA Tetsuya 徳島大学, ヘルスバイオサイエンス研究部, 教授 (40220694)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 強度変調放射線治療 / 最適化問題 / 微分方程式 / 非線形問題

Outline of Final Research Achievements

A novel approach of using nonlinear differential equations for solving box-constrained inverse problems in intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) treatment planning was proposed, and it was investigated through theoretical analysis, numerical analysis, creation of a prototype consisting of analog electronic circuits, and numerical experiments using phantom data simulating a clinical setup. Moreover, we presented a non-negatively constrained iterative method formulated by discretizing a differential equation in the continuous method. We give proofs for the convergence of a desired solution in the continuous and its discretized system, theoretically. When the IMRT inverse problem is well-posed, the proposed methods always provide an IMRT plan that exactly satisfies preset dose limits after sufficient time passage or iteration.

Free Research Field

医用工学