Computerized Program for Brachytherapy

A new computerized system helps radiation oncologists optimize the placement of radioactive seeds. The system targets escalated doses of radiation at tumor pockets and accounts for changes that occur in prostate volume during treatment.

Other benefits of the system include a dramatic reduction in the time required to design the radioactive seed treatment, allowing plans to be created in minutes and revised as the treatment proceeds. Ultrasound images of the patient's prostate are used by the system to help determine optimal radioactive seed placement based on prostate volume, location of tumor pockets, radioactivity levels of the seeds, location of the urethra, and regions of the prostate that may be unreachable by placement needles. The system operates on a wide range of computing platforms, including Windows NT PCs.

The system includes a dose-calculation engine, a modeling module, an optimization engine, and a graphical evaluation tool. It was developed by Eva K. Lee, assistant professor of industrial and systems engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology and of radiation oncology at Emory University School of Medicine (both in Atlanta, GA, USA). Lee collaborated on the work with Dr. Marco Zaider, professor and head of brachytherapy physics at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (NY, NY, USA).

"We can deliver better precision and create the optimal plan for each patient,” says Lee. "This system should help cut the recurrence rate for prostate cancer and reduce toxicity to healthy tissue.” Lee thinks that manipulating the large number of variables involved in brachytherapy is far too complex for even the best human experts. She has used patient data to compare her system with treatment plans designed by radiation oncologists and the results suggest the system will provide significant improvements in treatment outcomes.



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