TY  - JOUR
AU  - Sevilla-Moreno, Andrés Camilo
AU  - Puerta-Yepes, María Eugenia
AU  - Wahl, Niklas
AU  - Benito-Herce, Rafael
AU  - Cabal-Arango, Gonzalo
TI  - Interval Analysis-Based Optimization: A Robust Model for Intensity-Modulated Radiotherapy (IMRT).
JO  - Cancers
VL  - 17
IS  - 3
SN  - 2072-6694
CY  - Basel
PB  - MDPI
M1  - DKFZ-2025-00374
SP  - 504
PY  - 2025
N1  - Division of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology, 
AB  - Background: Cancer remains one of the leading causes of mortality worldwide, with radiotherapy playing a crucial role in its treatment. Intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) enables precise dose delivery to tumors while sparing healthy tissues. However, geometric uncertainties such as patient positioning errors and anatomical deformations can compromise treatment accuracy. Traditional methods use safety margins, which may lead to excessive irradiation of healthy organs or insufficient tumor coverage. Robust optimization techniques, such as minimax approaches, attempt to address these uncertainties but can result in overly conservative treatment plans. This study introduces an interval analysis-based optimization model for IMRT, offering a more flexible approach to uncertainty management. Methods: The proposed model represents geometric uncertainties using interval dose influence matrices and incorporates Bertoluzza's metric to balance tumor coverage and organ-at-risk (OAR) protection. The θ parameter allows controlled robustness modulation. The model was implemented in matRad, an open-source treatment planning system, and evaluated on five prostate cancer cases. Results were compared against traditional Planning Target Volume (PTV) and minimax robust optimization approaches. Results: The interval-based model improved tumor coverage by 5.8
KW  - IMRT (Other)
KW  - interval analysis (Other)
KW  - radiotherapy (Other)
KW  - robust optimization (Other)
KW  - uncertainty (Other)
LB  - PUB:(DE-HGF)16
C6  - pmid:39941871
C2  - pmc:PMC11816179
DO  - DOI:10.3390/cancers17030504
UR  - https://inrepo02.dkfz.de/record/298940
ER  -