1 research outputs found
A Method for Tumor Treating Fields Fast Estimation
Tumor Treating Fields (TTFields) is an FDA approved treatment for specific
types of cancer and significantly extends patients life. The intensity of the
TTFields within the tumor was associated with the treatment outcomes: the
larger the intensity the longer the patients are likely to survive. Therefore,
it was suggested to optimize TTFields transducer array location such that their
intensity is maximized. Such optimization requires multiple computations of
TTFields in a simulation framework. However, these computations are typically
performed using finite element methods or similar approaches that are time
consuming. Therefore, only a limited number of transducer array locations can
be examined in practice. To overcome this issue, we have developed a method for
fast estimation of TTFields intensity. We have designed and implemented a
method that inputs a segmentation of the patients head, a table of tissues
electrical properties and the location of the transducer array. The method
outputs a spatial estimation of the TTFields intensity by incorporating a few
relevant parameters in a random-forest regressor. The method was evaluated on
10 patients (20 TA layouts) in a leave-one-out framework. The computation time
was 1.5 minutes using the suggested method, and 180-240 minutes using the
commercial simulation. The average error was 0.14 V/cm (SD = 0.06 V/cm) in
comparison to the result of the commercial simulation. These results suggest
that a fast estimation of TTFields based on a few parameters is feasible. The
presented method may facilitate treatment optimization and further extend
patients life