Feasibility Study of Beam Angle Optimization for Proton Treatment Planning Using a Genetic Algorithm

Jaehyeon Seo, Yunhui Jo, Sunyoung Moon, Myonggeun Yoon, Sung Hwan Ahn, Boram Lee, Kwangzoo Chung, Seonghoon Jeong

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    1 Citation (Scopus)

    Abstract

    This study describes a method that uses a genetic algorithm to select optimal beam angles in proton therapy and evaluates the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm in actual patients. In the use of the genetic algorithm to select the optimal angle, a gene represents the angle of each field and a chromosome represents the combination of beam angles. The fitness of the genetic algorithm, which represents the suitability of the chromosome to the solution, was quantified by using the dose distribution. The weighting factors of the organs used for fitness were obtained from clinical data through logistic regression, reflecting the dose characteristics of actual patients. Genetic operations, such as selection, crossover, mutation, and replacement, were used to modify the population and were repeated until an evaluation based on fitness reached the termination criterion. The proposed genetic algorithm was tested by assessing its ability to select optimal beam angles in three patients with liver cancer. The optimal results for fitness, planning target volume (PTV), normal liver, and skin in the population were compared with the clinical treatment plans, a process that took an average of 36.8 minutes. The dose-volume histograms (DVHs) and the fitness of the genetic algorithm plans did not differ significantly from the actual treatment plans. These findings indicate that the proposed genetic algorithm can automatically generate proton treatment plans with the same quality as actual clinical treatment plans.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)312-316
    Number of pages5
    JournalJournal of the Korean Physical Society
    Volume77
    Issue number4
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2020 Aug 1

    Bibliographical note

    Funding Information:
    This research was supported by the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (NRF-2018R1D1A1B07047770), and by a National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) of the Korea government (NRF-2019R1F1A1063910).

    Publisher Copyright:
    © 2020, The Korean Physical Society.

    Keywords

    • Beam angle optimization
    • Genetic algorithm
    • Liver cancer
    • Proton therapy
    • Treatment planning

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • General Physics and Astronomy

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Feasibility Study of Beam Angle Optimization for Proton Treatment Planning Using a Genetic Algorithm'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this