Meta-optimization for Fully Automated Radiation Therapy Treatment Planning
Abstract
Objective: Radiation therapy treatment planning is a time-consuming process involving iterative adjustments of hyperparameters. To automate the treatment planning process, we propose a meta-optimization framework, called MetaPlanner (MP). Methods: Our MP algorithm automates planning by performing optimization of treatment planning hyperparameters. The algorithm uses a derivative-free method (i.e. parallel Nelder-Mead simplex search) to search for weight configurations that minimize a meta-scoring function. Meta-scoring is performed by constructing a tier list of the relevant considerations (e.g. dose homogeneity, conformity, spillage, and OAR sparing) to mimic the clinical decision-making process. Additionally, we have made our source code publicly available via github. Results: The proposed MP method is evaluated on two datasets (21 prostate cases and 6 head and neck cases) collected as part of clinical workflow. MP is applied to both IMRT and VMAT planning and compared to a baseline of manual VMAT plans. MP in both IMRT and VMAT scenarios has comparable or better performance than manual VMAT planning for all evaluated metrics. Conclusion: Our proposed MP provides a general framework for fully automated treatment planning that produces high quality treatment plans. Significance: Our MP method promises to substantially reduce the workload of treatment planners while maintaining or improving plan quality.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2110.10733,
title = {Meta-optimization for Fully Automated Radiation Therapy Treatment Planning},
author = {Charles Huang and Yusuke Nomura and Yong Yang and Lei Xing},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2110.10733},
year = {2022}
}