Application of the OWA Operator in the Beam Angle Optimization and Intensity Problems in IMRT
Radiation Therapy, IMRT, OWA operator, Experimental Algorithms
Radiation therapy is an extremely important method for cancer treatment. The main challenge is to deliver, at least, the prescribed dose to the tumor, while avoiding to expose healthy organs to radiation beyond defined limits. The intensity modulated teletherapy (IMRT) is an advanced mode of high-precision radiotherapy. Over the years, many researchers have presented algorithms to solve the main difficulty of IMRT treatments, which consists in automating the selection of beam angles for an adequate dose distribution. This research presents an algorithm that seeks the ideal balance between a set of angles and a dose distribution that respects medical prescriptions inherent to the treatment. The proposed algorithm uses two new mathematical models and the Ordered Weighted Average (OWA) operator as a criterion of preference to choose the best solution.