Using artificial intelligence to enhance radiotherapy effectiveness
Using artificial intelligence to enhance radiotherapy effectiveness
Dr Jeremy BoothUniversity of Sydney $449,316 2021-2023
Background
Radiotherapy is an effective treatment for many types of cancer, both on its own and in combination with other treatments. Modern radiotherapy machines are incredibly precise, but their targets are always moving. Even when we lie perfectly still, our bodies are always in motion – we breathe, our hearts beat, our muscles twitch, we swallow and we digest. This means that a cancer tumour is also never perfectly still. To overcome natural movement, standard radiotherapy treatments use a larger radiation beam than is needed to treat the whole tumour. While this approach ensures all parts of the tumour are treated effectively, it also exposes healthy tissue surrounding the tumour to radiation.
The research
Harnessing the power of artificial intelligence, in this project Dr Booth and his team will implement “beam’s-eye-view” tracking technology during radiation treatment for prostate, liver and pancreas cancer patients. With beam’s-eye-view tracking, the cancer is tracked at all time during radiation therapy treatment, ensuring high accuracy and high precision treatment. For the patients, this means their cancer is hit and destroyed while their healthy tissue and organs are protected from damage.
The impact
This technology uses images formed by the treatment beam itself and can be used with all standard treatment machines. Leveraging existing clinical trials to test this tracking system, this technology could catapult radiotherapy into a new era of high-precision treatments.
