INVERSE RADIOTHERAPY TREATMENT PLANNING MODEL APPLYING BOLTZMANN-TRANSPORT EQUATION

Abstract

In the external radiation therapy the source of radiation is from outside. The healthy tissue and some organs, called critical organs which are quite intolerable for radiation, are always irradiated, too. Therefore, the careful treatment plan has to be constructed to ensure high and homogeneous dose in the tumor, but on the other hand to spare the normal tissue and critical organs possibly well. In the radiation therapy treatment planning one tries to optimize the dose distribution in the way that the above aim is satisfied. The dose distributions can be generated with different techniques. The most recent of them is the so-called multileaf collimator (MLC) delivery technique. Calculation of the dose distribution demands some dose calculation model. The paper gives a model and theoretical basis of planning applying the Boltzmann-transport equation in dose calculation and MLC delivery technique. The existence of solutions and the optimal treatment planning are considered. A preliminary artificial computer simulation is included.