Radiotherapy Treatment Design Using Mathematical Programming Models

The design of treatment for external beam radiation therapy of malignant tumors is a complex decision-making process. This paper introduces and develops mathematical programming models that can aid this process. After briefly discussing the necessary background material, we state our linear and mixed-integer programming models, along with some variations that can be usefully implemented in some situations. We then compare our design for a case of lung cancer with a standardized approach, and the advantages of our models become evident. We close with several comments about the potential utility of this class of models in treating other types of cancers.