Optimization of Radiation Therapy Fractionation Schedules in the Presence of Tumor Repopulation

W analyze the effect of tumor repopulation on optimal dose delivery in radiation therapy. We are primarily motivated by accelerated tumor repopulation toward the end of radiation treatment, which is believed to play a role in treatment failure for some tumor sites. A dynamic programming framework is developed to determine an optimal fractionation scheme based on a model of cell kill from radiation and tumor growth in between treatment days. We find that faster tumor growth suggests shorter overall treatment duration. In addition, the presence of accelerated repopulation suggests larger dose fractions later in the treatment to compensate for the increased tumor proliferation. We prove that the optimal dose fractions are increasing over time. Numerical simulations indicate a potential for improvement in treatment effectiveness.