On the use of multi-dimensional scaling and electromagnetic tracking in high dose rate brachytherapy

Phys Med Biol. 2017 Oct 3;62(20):7959-7980. doi: 10.1088/1361-6560/aa8944.

Abstract

High dose rate brachytherapy affords a frequent reassurance of the precise dwell positions of the radiation source. The current investigation proposes a multi-dimensional scaling transformation of both data sets to estimate dwell positions without any external reference. Furthermore, the related distributions of dwell positions are characterized by uni-or bi-modal heavy-tailed distributions. The latter are well represented by α-stable distributions. The newly proposed data analysis provides dwell position deviations with high accuracy, and, furthermore, offers a convenient visualization of the actual shapes of the catheters which guide the radiation source during the treatment.

MeSH terms

  • Brachytherapy / instrumentation*
  • Brachytherapy / methods
  • Catheters*
  • Electromagnetic Phenomena*
  • Humans
  • Neoplasms / diagnostic imaging
  • Neoplasms / radiotherapy*
  • Phantoms, Imaging*
  • Radiotherapy Dosage
  • Radiotherapy Planning, Computer-Assisted / methods*