title: Molecular dynamics used in radiation therapy.
abstract: In this Letter, classical molecular dynamics is used to deal with optimization problems occurring in intensity modulated radiation therapy. By introducing the concepts of virtual atom and virtual cluster, the optimization process in this kind of therapy can be considered as an analogy to finding the equilibrium configuration of a cluster. This viewpoint gives great insight into the optimization problems. To show how the idea works, a dose-based objective function is adopted to obtain the optimized intensity profiles. The results and high computational efficiency show that molecular dynamics is applicable clinically for this therapy. The idea presented here also could be inspiring to other fields where optimization problems exist.
authors.affiliation: Key Lab for Radiation Physics and Technology of Education Ministry of China, Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, People's Republic of China. qhou@263.net
authors.forename: Q
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D008954:Models, Biological; D011868:Radioisotopes; D011874:Radiometry; D011878:Radiotherapy
chemical_list: D011868:Radioisotopes