Smart radiotherapy for personalized care: Leveraging Artificial Intelligence to adapt radiation doses in real-time to a patient's changing anatomy.

Challenge

Adaptive radiotherapy focuses on a patient's anatomical changes between fractions—such as weight loss or fluctuations in bladder and bowel filling. A key challenge is determining whether a recalculation and re-optimisation of the dose distribution is required to maintain treatment accuracy.

Scientific Approach

The project aims to develop and validate artificial intelligence neural networks to enable rapid, independent assessment of daily imaging data. This allows for a more efficient evaluation of whether anatomical changes necessitate a change in the radiation plan.

Objectives and Impact

The objective is to provide medical staff with a robust decision-making tool for daily radiation planning. This improves safety in the planning process and potentially allows for a reduction in safety margins around the target volume, thereby reducing the likelihood of side effects.