Radiation Oncology in the Era of Big Data and Machine Learning for Precision Medicine

Abstract

Machine learning (ML) applications in medicine represent an emerging field of research with the potential to revolutionize the field of radiation oncology, in particular. With the era of big data, the utilization of machine learning algorithms in radiation oncology research is growing fast with applications including patient diagnosis and staging of cancer, treatment simulation, treatment planning, treatment delivery, quality assurance, and treatment response and outcome predictions. In this chapter, we provide the interested reader with an overview of the ongoing advances and cutting-edge applications of state-of-the-art ML techniques in radiation oncology process from the radiotherapy workflow perspective, starting from patient’s diagnosis to follow-up. We present with discussion the areas where ML has presently been used and also areas where ML could be applied to improve the efficiency (i.e., optimizing and automating the clinical processes) and quality (i.e., potentials for decision-making support toward a practical application of precision medicine in radiation therapy) of patient care.