Sim-less Planning and Delivery
A mainstay of conventional radiotherapy treatment planning is the “simulation” whereby a CT scan of the patient is taken in the planned treatment position and its images are used to identify the tumor (target) as well as surrounding normal tissues. These images are then used to generate a treatment plan which is designed to deliver the prescription radiation dose to the tumor while optimally sparing surrounding normal tissues. Each day in the treatment room, considerable effort is performed to re-position the patient and the internal anatomy to match the day of simulation.
Our researchers are exploring a novel adaptive approach whereby the simulation is replaced with imaging of the tumor and normal tissues on the treatment couch and an automated planning process is used to generate a treatment plan. In short, the treatment plan is adapted to the patient’s anatomy on the treatment table. We are focused on using this novel adaptive approach in multiple tumor sites, with an initial focus on patients undergoing palliative RT on a clinical trial.