# High-dose-rate prostate brachytherapy inverse planning on dose-volume criteria by simulated annealing

## TL;DR

This paper presents a simulated annealing algorithm for high-dose-rate prostate brachytherapy planning that improves speed and objective outcomes without relying on expensive solvers, using matrix operations and neighbor selection strategies.

## Contribution

It introduces a novel simulated annealing approach for inverse planning in brachytherapy that outperforms existing methods in efficiency and solution quality.

## Key findings

- Faster optimization compared to existing algorithms
- Achieves better dose-volume objective values
- Effective use of matrix multiplication and neighbor selection

## Abstract

High-dose-rate brachytherapy is a tumor treatment method where a highly radioactive source is brought in close proximity to the tumor. In this paper we develop a simulated annealing algorithm to optimize the dwell times at preselected dwell positions to maximize tumor coverage under dose-volume constraints on the organs at risk. Compared to existing algorithms, our algorithm has advantages in terms of speed and objective value and does not require an expensive general purpose solver. Its success mainly depends on exploiting the efficiency of matrix multiplication and a careful selection of the neighboring states. In this paper we outline its details and make an in-depth comparison with existing methods using real patient data.