Abstract
The importance of accurate prediction of the radiotherapeutic effect has increased recently with developing the irradiation techniques. The authors have proposed a novel computational method to simulate changes in tumor volume during the treatment. In this work, the method was applied to six clinical cases of metastatic cervical lymph nodes to examine the feasibility of clinical application of this method. The volume change in tumor shrinkage during treatment was formulated mathematically using analogical equations of an elastic deformation in solid mechanics. The values of simulation parameters were determined for each case so that calculated tumor volume change could be obeyed actual tumor volume change through the treatment. The average difference between the calculated and measured volumes for the six cases was 9.9%. The simulation method was able to represent various patterns of decreases in tumor volume in the cases of metastatic cervical lymph nodes.
