Mathematical Modelling in High Dose-Rate Brachytherapy

High dose-rate brachytherapy is a modality of radiation therapy, used in cancer treatment. An evaluation criterion that is denoted the dosimetric index is the portion of the tumour that receives at least a specified radiation dose. This type of measure is fundamental in clinical treatment guidelines and I will discuss them from a modelling perspective. A weakness with this criterion is that the dose to the least irradiated volume in the tumour is not taken into account. An improved formulation of a model based on dosimetric indices is proposed, to increase the dose to the least irradiated volume. In addition I will also discuss spatial aspects of the dose distribution, both in terms of contiguous hot and cold volumes in the tumour, and how the spatial aspects can be modelled.