SOFTWARE TO COMPENSATE FOR INTERRUPTIONS IN RADIOTHERAPY

在所有的外照射放射治疗过程中， 计划外中断，即错过计划的治疗。因为 细胞损伤修复和肿瘤再增殖的动力学，设计 额外的或增强的治疗，以补偿错过的分数， 非平凡的由于必须有一些个性化的补偿方案， 选择，它应该是合理的使用最先进的放射生物学。 在 在第一阶段，我们编写了原型软件（RIC，放射治疗中断 补偿器），为 放射治疗师，以弥补意外中断期间， 延长放疗方案。它计算出需要多少剂量 产生相等的肿瘤控制（或者，交替地，相等的晚期正常组织 并发症）时，建议的中断补偿方案 取代了原先计划的方案。该计划的目的 作为一个“专家系统”，提供给任何执业放射治疗师， 领先的从业者的专业知识，在个人电脑为基础， 用户友好的软件包。 在证明可行性后，我们建议在第二阶段申请中， 继续第一阶段的研究工作。目标是 在第二阶段结束时，生产一种可销售的产品， a）最先进的科学技术，B）设计和编写 适当的质量控制，c）使用稳健，d）实践可信 临床医生 建议的商业应用：潜在市场包括超过 全球有2,500家放射肿瘤学机构。 可能约1-4 每个设施购买的软件副本，每份约900美元。

A significant fraction of all courses of external-beam radiotherapy have unplanned interruptions, i.e. scheduled treatments are missed. Because of the kinetics of cellular damage repair and tumor repopulation, designing extra or augmented treatments to compensate for the missed fractions is non-trivial. Since some individualized compensation regimen must be chosen, it should be rationalized using state-of-the-art radiobiology. In Phase I we wrote prototype software (RIC, the Radiotherapy Interruption Compensator) which produces a range of practical options for the radiotherapist to compensate for unplanned interruptions during an extended radiotherapy regimen. It calculates what doses are needed to produce equal tumor control (or, alternately, equal late normal-tissue complications) when a proposed interruption-compensated regimen is substituted for the originally planned protocol. The program is designed as an "expert system", making available to any practicing radiotherapist the expertise of leading practitioners, in a personal-computer based, user-friendly package. Having demonstrated feasibility, we propose, in this Phase II application, to continue the research effort initiated in Phase I. The goal is to produce, at the end of the Phase II period, a marketable product which is a) scientifically state-of-the-art, b) designed and written with appropriate quality control, c) robust to use, d) credible to practicing clinicians. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATION: Potential market consists of more than 2,500 Radiation Oncology facilities worldwide. Potentially about 1-4 copies of the software purchased by each facility, at about $900 per copy.