Medical Table

Intra-fractional Tumour Tracking and Adaption by Means of a Robotic Treatment Couch

Objectives

One limiting factor for high precision radiotherapy is the mobility of the target volume during and between treatments. Typically, safety margins are applied to ensure that the tumor is irradiated appropriately. Depending on the extend of the tumour motion these margins can be considerably large leading to to an increased radiation exposure of the surrounding healthy tissue. 

The aim of this research project is to detect the tumour motion during irradiation and to correct for it in real-time by means of a robotic treatment couch offering six degrees of freedom (three translational and three rotational). To identify the actual position of the tumour continuous imaging of the irradiated region is carried out with the portal imaging device of the medical accelerator. A second data set from an independent sensor system provides redundant information in case the imaging data is erroneous, ambiguous or inconclusive. With this approach the tumour becomes fixed in space such that it appears almost stationary in the beams-eye-view of the accelerator. This allows a reduction of the radiation fields leading to a better protection of the surrounding tissue. 

Partners

	Department of Radiotherapy, University Würzburg
	Medical Intelligence GmbH
	Department of Computer Science VII, University Würzburg