Especially the shuttle solution allows to include functional MRI or PET images to investigate e.g. biomarkers for early response monitoring during the course of therapy. We contribute to this area with research projects in adaptive treatment planning, advanced dosimetry and dose accumulation, optimization of imaging sequences, optimization of cone-beam CT imaging for direct treatment planning, inclusion of dual energy CT for particle therapy, pseudo CT generation from MRI and advanced anthropomorphic motion phantoms. In our group we center on both the technical aspects of image-guided radiotherapy as well as software solutions and patient-oriented workflows.
Besides CT and MRI we also investigate the potential of robotic ultrasound imaging for IGRT, as a further modality to continuously monitor organ motion with high tissue contrast but without any additional dose to the patient. Within the Heidelberg Institute for Radiation Oncology (HIRO) we also established optical surface guidance for radiotherapy at the Heidelberg Ion Beam Therapy Center (HIT) to facilitate the patient set-up and allow for motion monitoring during beam delivery.
Together with the Department of Radiation Oncology and Radiotherapy at Heidelberg University Hospital, we also contribute to the development of MR-guided particle beam therapy within the ARTEMIS Project which is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).
