Hyperthermia Treatment Planning Using Shape Optimization

The goal of hyperthermia treatment planning is to selectively elevate the temperature of cancerous tissue to around $42^{\circ}C$ while avoiding damage to healthy tissue. This is achieved using exterior exciting coils surrounding the affected body part, such as the thigh. However, optimizing the shape and location of these coils presents a two-part challenge. The first step involves solving for the electric field, which determines the Joule heating in different parts of the body. The second step involves determining the resulting temperature distribution, which is dependent on the material properties that change with temperature. To address this inverse optimization problem, this paper proposes the use of the genetic algorithm (GA). By adjusting the shape of the conductor as the temperature changes, the optimal coil distribution is obtained to achieve the desired temperature distribution in a human thigh.