Medical Physics Seminar – Tuesday, December 23, 2014
Generalized Tumor Dose for Treatment Planning Decision Support
Areli Zuniga (student of Dr. Bhudatt Paliwal)
Research Assistant, Medical Radiation Research Center, Dept of Medical Physics, UW-School of Medicine & Public Health, Madison, WI - USA
This dissertation introduces a new EUD formulation designed especially for tumor volumes, the generalized Tumor Dose (gTD); and investigates, as a second objective, margin extensions for potential improvements in local control while maintaining or minimizing toxicity.
The suitability of gTD to rank LC was assessed by means of retrospective studies in a head and neck (HN) squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cohorts. The formulation was optimized based on two datasets (one of each type) and then, model validation was assessed on independent cohorts.
The second objective of this dissertation was investigated by ranking the probability of LC of the primary disease adding different margin sizes. In order to do so, an already published EUD for-mula was used retrospectively in a HN and a NSCLC datasets.
Finally, recommendations for the viability to implement this new formulation into a routine treatment planning process well as the revision of safety margins to improve local tumor control maximizing normal tissue sparing in SCC of the HN and NSCLC are discussed.