Radiomics or computer – extracted texture features have been shown to achieve superior performance than multiparametric MRI (mpMRI) signal intensities alone in targeting prostate cancer (PCa) lesions. Radiomics along with deformable co-registration tools can be used to develop a framework to generate targeted focal radiotherapy treatment plans. The Rad-TRaP framework comprises three distinct modules. Firstly, a module for radiomics based detection of PCa lesions on mpMRI via a feature enabled machine learning classifier. The second module comprises a multi-modal deformable co-registration scheme to map tissue, organ, and delineated target volumes from MRI onto CT. Finally, the third module involves generation of a radiomics based dose plan on MRI for brachytherapy and on CT for EBRT using the target delineations transferred from the MRI to the CT. Rad-TRaP framework was evaluated using a retrospective cohort of 23 patient studies from two different institutions. 11 patients from the first institution were used to train a radiomics classifier, which was used to detect tumor regions in 12 patients from the second institution. The ground truth cancer delineations for training the machine learning classifier were made by an experienced radiation oncologist using mpMRI, knowledge of biopsy location and radiology reports. The detected tumor regions were used to generate treatment plans for brachytherapy using mpMRI, and tumor regions mapped from MRI to CT to generate corresponding treatment plans for EBRT. For each of EBRT and brachytherapy, 3 dose plans were generated - whole gland homogeneous ( $\mathbb {P}^{\text {WH}}$ ) which is the current clinical standard, radiomics based focal ( $\mathbb {P}^{\text {RF}}$ ), and whole gland with a radiomics based focal boost ( $\mathbb {P}^{\text {WF}}$ ). Comparison of $\mathbb {P}^{\text {RF}}$ against conventional $\mathbb {P}^{\text {WH}}$ revealed that targeted focal brachytherapy would result in a marked reduction in dosage to the OARs while ensuring that the prescribed dose is delivered to the lesions. $\mathbb {P}^{\text {WF}}$ resulted in only a marginal increase in dosage to the OARs compared to $\mathbb {P}^{\text {WH}}$ . A similar trend was observed in case of EBRT with $\mathbb {P}^{\text {RF}}$ and $\mathbb {P}^{\text {WF}}$ compared to $\mathbb {P}^{\text {WH}}$ . A radiotherapy planning framework to generate targeted focal treatment plans has been presented. The focal treatment plans generated using the framework showed reduction in dosage to the organs at risk and a boosted dose delivered to the cancerous lesions.

Major categories of radiotherapy (RT) for prostate cancer (CaP) treatment are: (1) external beam RT (EBRT), and (2) brachytherapy (BT). EBRT are performed using different techniques like three-dimensional conformal RT (3D-CRT), intensity modulated RT (IMRT), volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT), and stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT), stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) and intensity modulated proton therapy (IMPT), etc., using a variety of radiation delivery machines, such as a linear accelerator (Linac), Cyberknife robotic system, Gamma knife, Tomotherapy and proton beam machine. The primary advantage of proton beam therapy is sparing of normal tissues and organ at risks (OARs) with comparable coverage of the tumor volume. MR-Linac is the latest addition in the image-guided RT. Robot-assisted brachytherapy is one of the latest technological innovations in the field. With the advancement of technology, radiation therapy for prostate cancer can be improved using high quality multimodal imaging, robot-assistance for brachytherapy as well as EBRT. This chapter presents the advances in radiation therapy for the treatment of prostate cancer.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether African-American lung cancer patients are diagnosed at a later stage than white patients, regardless of insurance type. The relationship between race and stage at diagnosis by insurance type was assessed using a Poisson regression model, with relative risk as the measure of association. The setting of the study was a large tertiary care cancer center located in the southeastern United States. Patients who were diagnosed with lung cancer between 2001 and 2010 were included in the study. A total of 717 (31%) African-American and 1,634 (69%) white lung cancer patients were treated at our facility during the study period. Adjusting for age, sex, and smoking-related histology, African-American patients were diagnosed at a statistically significant later stage (III/IV versus I/II) than whites for all insurance types, with the exception of Medicaid. Our results suggest that equivalent insurance coverage may not ensure equal presentation of stage between African-American and white lung cancer patients. Future research is needed to determine whether other factors such as treatment delays, suboptimal preventive care, inappropriate specialist referral, community segregation, and a lack of patient trust in health care providers may explain the continuing racial disparities observed in the current study.

Background: In this study, the utilization rates and survival outcomes of different radiotherapy techniques are compared in prostate cancer (PCa) patients stratified by risk group. Methods: We analyzed an extensive data set of N0, M0, non-surgical PCa patients diagnosed between 2004 and 2015 from the National Cancer Database (NCDB). Patients were grouped into six categories based on RT modality: an intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) group with brachytherapy (BT) boost, IMRT with/without IMRT boost, proton therapy, stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT), low-dose-rate brachytherapy (BT LDR), and high-dose-rate brachytherapy (BT HDR). Patients were also stratified by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines: low-risk (clinical stage T1–T2a, Gleason Score (GS) ≤ 6, and Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) < 10), intermediate-risk (clinical stage T2b or T2c, GS of 7, or PSA of 10–20), and high-risk (clinical stage T3–T4, or GS of 8–10, or PSA > 20). Overall survival (OS) probability was determined using a Kaplan–Meier estimator. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed by risk group for the six treatment modalities. Results: The most utilized treatment modality for all PCa patients was IMRT (53.1%). Over the years, a steady increase in SBRT utilization was observed, whereas BT HDR usage declined. IMRT-treated patient groups exhibited relatively lower survival probability in all risk categories. A slightly better survival probability was observed for the proton therapy group. Hormonal therapy was used for a large number of patients in all risk groups. Conclusion: This study revealed that IMRT was the most common treatment modality for PCa patients. Brachytherapy, SBRT, and IMRT+BT exhibited similar survival rates, whereas proton showed slightly better overall survival across the three risk groups. However, analysis of the demographics indicates that these differences are at least in part due to selection bias.

As a technique for compensating for tumor motion induced by respiratory and cardiac motions, various dynamic approaches are being investigated and implemented in radiation therapy. This paper presents a novel system that can continuously track the tumor during radiation dose delivery so that a precise dose is given to a moving target while reducing dose to nearby critical organs for improved patient treatment outcome. The efficacy of the proposed methodology has been investigated by extensive computer simulation using a Proportional, Integral and Derivative (PID) controller. System design and simulation results are presented in this paper.