Efficient intensity map splitting algorithms for intensity-modulated radiation therapy

In this paper, we study several interesting intensity map splitting (IMSp) problems that arise in Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT), a state-of-the-art radiation therapy technique for cancer treatments. In current clinical practice, a multi-leaf collimator (MLC) with a maximum leaf spread is used to deliver the prescribed intensity maps (IMs). However, the maximum leaf spread of an MLC may require that a large intensity map be split into several abutting sub-IMs each being delivered separately, which results in prolonged treatment time. Few IM splitting techniques reported in the literature have addressed the issue of treatment delivery efficiency for large IMs. We develop a unified approach for solving the IMSp problems while minimizing the total beam-on time in various settings. Our basic idea is to formulate the IMSp problem as computing a k-link shortest path in a directed acyclic graph. We carefully characterize the intrinsic structures of the graph, yielding efficient algorithms for the IMSp problems.