Adaptive Radiation Therapy (known as ART) is a closed-loop radiation treatment process where the treatment plan can be adjusted using measurement feedback. ART intends to improve radiation treatment by systematically monitoring treatment variations (temporal changes of anatomy due to tumor shrinkage, weight loss or internal motion) and incorporating them to re-optimize the treatment plan early on during the course of treatment. This involves transforming information from multiple medical images into usable and accurate clinical knowledge to guide tumor irradiation. Some of the steps include auto segmentation and contour propagation, all enabled using deformable image registration. Using examples drawn from external beam radiation therapy and brachytherapy, the talk will describe the role, benefits and challenges, as well as the on-going research efforts toward the clinical implementation of ART.
Professor Jean Pouliot is the Vice Chair and Director of the Division of Medical Physics at the Department of Radiation Oncology at UCSF. He is also a Core Faculty of the UCB-UCSF Joint Graduate Program in Bioengineering.