Track: Healthcare Systems

Abstract

The primary objective of radiotherapy is to deliver the correct dose of radiation to cancerous region with minimum damage to surrounding normal tissues in head and neck. Based on pre-treatment Computer Tomography (CT) images, a master plan for the treatment is developed. The current radiation therapy planning systems “assume” that the tumor geometry will not change during the course of treatment. However, there is a critical flaw in this assumption, because tumor geometry has shown to be changing over time during the treatment. Accordingly, there is a critical need to track the changes in tumor geometry over time during the radiotherapy treatment, and then plan the proper treatment and radiation. We proposed a methodology to geometrically model, physically construct, monitor and predict daily (fraction day) tumor volume and surface changes of head and neck cancer tumors during the entire radiation therapy period. Tumor volume and surface are calculated using patients’ CT scan data and tested using both geometrical analysis and physical models using 3D printing technologies. Geometrical and Statistical analyses are applied in order to generate the predictive models and validation.