Optimizing radiotherapy plans for cancer treatment with Tensor Networks

Abstract

We present a novel application of Tensor Network methods in cancer treatment as a potential tool to solve the dose optimization problem in radiotherapy. In particular, the intensity-modulated radiation therapy technique-that allows treating irregular and inhomogeneous tumors while reducing the radiation toxicity on healthy organs-is based on the optimization problem of the beamlets intensities that shall result in a maximal delivery of the therapy dose to cancer while avoiding the organs at risk of being damaged by the radiation. The resulting optimization problem is expressed as a cost function to be optimized. Here, we map the cost function into an Ising-like Hamiltonian, describing a system of long-range interacting qubits. Finally, we solve the dose optimization problem by finding the ground-state of the Hamiltonian using a Tree Tensor Network algorithm. In particular, we present an anatomical scenario exemplifying a prostate cancer treatment. A similar approach can be applied to future hybrid classical-quantum algorithms, paving the way for the use of quantum technologies in future medical treatments.

Keywords: Tensor Network; cancer treatment; hybrid quantum–classical technology; medical physics; quantum information; quantum spin glass; radiotherapy.