1. Paul Scherrer Institute (Switzerland)
2. TheraPanacea (France)
3. Medizinische Universität Wien (Austria)
Changes and uncertainties of the irradiated anatomy are a major challenge for radiotherapy and particle therapy in particular. Tumours located in organs affected by breathing motion, heartbeat or peristalsis therefore are especially difficult to treat and in fact often show poor prognosis for the patients. Research on dedicated treatment strategies for such tumours has been conducted at GSI and many other centers, resulting in many different strategies for motion mitigation and compensation. Nearly all of this research has been conducted on patients lying on a couch for imaging and therapy. For upright patients, the anatomy as well as the organ motion of the abdomen and thorax changes significantly, which will have an impact on target coverage, OAR doses and the efficacy of motion mitigation strategies.
The objective of this PhD project is to investigate the impact of the upright patient posture on particle therapy of tumours in the thorax and abdomen. This includes studies on the changed anatomy, change motion patterns, as well as different motion mitigation strategies. GSI’s in house treatment planning system TRiP98 supports simulations and experimental planning of several motion mitigation strategies, including range-considering ITVs, gating, rescanning, tracking or dedicated 4D-plan libraries, as well as robust plan evaluation in the presence of periodic or variable motion.
The Doctoral Candidate will assess these effects on data acquired together with the project partners at PSI, ASG or HZDR, supported by secondments at PSI and Therapanacea. Based on treatment planning studies, recommendations for upright therapy of mobile targets will be developed, including patient positioning, beam directions, motion mitigation and plan adaptation strategies. The Candidate will finetune existing or develop additional motion mitigation strategies dedicated to upright therapy, also in support of particle arc therapy. Finally, the results will be validated in an experimental campaign at the clinical sites of the UPLIFT project using the phantom developed by DC15, and in collaboration with several other projects for immobilization, imaging, QA, and beam surveillance.
Where are you from: China
What were you studying: Medical Physics
Why you decided for that topic: I chose this project because it represents a unique intersection of cutting-edge particle therapy, innovative patient positioning, and motion management research. The opportunity to investigate this project offers a comprehensive research experience that matches my long-term goal of becoming an independent academic researcher in particle therapy field.
What are your expectations on that project: Through this project, I expect to gain extensive experience in particle therapy for upright position, including treatment planning, motion management, and clinical practice.
What is your personal motivation: I’m motivated by the challenge of translating novel technical ideas into real clinical impact. Seeing how small innovations in patient positioning or motion mitigation can improve treatment efficacy and patient outcomes is deeply inspiring to me.
