Clinical implementation of hyperthermia treatment planning guided steering: A cross over trial to assess its current contribution to treatment quality

Abstract

We found that the procedure of online treatment planning guided steering is feasible. For maximal exploitation of its possibilities, however, better control and understanding of several patient, tumour and technical parameters is required. This study has been very helpful in identifying some of the challenges and flaws that warrant further investigation in the near future, such as patient positioning and the prevention of hotspot-related complaints.

Local hyperthermia combined with radiotherapy and-/or chemotherapy: Recent advances and promises for the future

“…In a randomized trial, complaint-adaptive steering using VEDO allowed inexperienced operators to perform a treatment similar in quality to that from an operator with 20 years' experience with a four-channel Sigma 60 system [101]. Simulation based steering with VEDO is currently being investigated for high frequency systems with more antennas, i.e.…”

“…Subsequently, treatment settings are adjusted in real-time to reduce hotspots while retaining or increasing target temperatures by increasing the applied power [99]. Effective use of combining feedback from measured temperatures and complaint-adaptive steering has been documented with clinically evaluated objective measures [100,101]. Recently, VEDO (Visualizer for Electromagnetic Dosimetry and Optimization), a software tool specifically designed to reduce the complexity of SAR-steering has been developed [99] (Fig.…”

Clinical integration of software tool VEDO for adaptive and quantitative application of phased array hyperthermia in the head and neck

“…Franckena et al [16] showed that, in cervical cancer, HTP-guided steering achieves similar levels of HT quality as empirically based steering. These empirically based steering guidelines were derived from 18 years of experience.…”

“…following the historically applied subjective SAR steering based on empirical knowledge and experience. Instead, these phased array applicators require more objective-based information and guidance to control the energy deposition pattern [15][16][17]. Patient-specific hyperthermia treatment planning (HTP) provides the tool for objective and quantified steering that is required for phased array applicators [18].…”

Procedure for creating a three-dimensional (3D) model for superficial hyperthermia treatment planning

“…We previously made CT scans for deep HTP. A CT scan of the patient lying in a BSD sling system, i.e., in the HT treatment position, was obtained [8,34].…”