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A Tutorial on Radiation Oncology and Optimization

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Tutorials on Emerging Methodologies and Applications in Operations Research

Part of the book series: International Series in Operations Research & Management Science ((ISOR,volume 76))

Abstract

Designing radiotherapy treatments is a complicated and important task that affects patient care, and modern delivery systems enable a physician more flexibility than can be considered. Consequently, treatment design is increasingly automated by techniques of optimization, and many of the advances in the design process are accomplished by a collaboration among medical physicists, radiation oncologists, and experts in optimization. This tutorial is meant to aid those with a background in optimization in learning about treatment design. Besides discussing several optimization models, we include a clinical perspective so that readers understand the clinical issues that are often ignored in the optimization literature. Moreover, we discuss many new challenges so that new researchers can quickly begin to work on meaningful problems.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mathematics, Trinity University, USA

    Allen Holder

  2. Radiation Oncology Department and Cancer Therapy and Research Center, University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, USA

    Bill Salter

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  1. Allen Holder
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  2. Bill Salter
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  1. Mathematics Department, University of Colorado at Denver, USA

    H J. G

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Holder, A., Salter, B. (2005). A Tutorial on Radiation Oncology and Optimization. In: G, H.J. (eds) Tutorials on Emerging Methodologies and Applications in Operations Research. International Series in Operations Research & Management Science, vol 76. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-22827-6_4

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