Radiotherapy treatment scheduling considering time window preferences

Area of Science:

• Medical Physics
• Operations Research
• Radiation Oncology

Background:

• Radiotherapy (RT) is a crucial cancer treatment delivered via linear accelerators (linacs).
• Increasing cancer incidence necessitates efficient RT scheduling.
• Current RT scheduling often prioritizes timeliness over patient time preferences.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an optimized scheduling model for external-beam radiotherapy sessions.
• To incorporate patient time window preferences into RT appointment scheduling.
• To address the need for patient-centric scheduling in Dutch RT centers.

Main Methods:

• A mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model was developed for scheduling and sequencing RT sessions.
• A heuristic method was proposed to pre-assign patients to linacs for larger instances.
• The MILP model was used to solve subproblems generated by the heuristic method.

Main Results:

• The MILP model optimally schedules sessions within patient-defined time windows for smaller instances.
• The combined heuristic and MILP approach effectively solves scheduling problems for large RT centers.
• This methodology achieved scheduling with only 2.8% of sessions outside desired time windows in a real-world setting.

Conclusions:

• The proposed MILP and heuristic approach enables patient-preferred RT scheduling.
• This method balances treatment efficiency with patient satisfaction.
• It offers a practical solution for optimizing radiotherapy scheduling in large clinical settings.