Optimization of Evolutionary Strategy using Island Model to Design HIFU Treatment Plans

High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) is anemerging technique for non-invasive cancer treatment wheremalignant tissue is destroyed by thermal ablation. The treatmentplan consists of a series of HIFU sonications since one sonicationdestroys only a small volume of tissue. The high-quality treatmentplans with a precise HIFU positioning need to be generated todestroy all malignant tissue and prevent damage to surroundinghealthy tissue. Here, we present an optimized evolutionarystrategy that uses an island model to design HIFU treatment plansusing patient-specific material properties and a realistic thermalmodel. Although the original strategy was able to create high-quality treatment plans, the execution time too high. The proposedversion allows finding the solution more than 6-times faster,moreover, with a higher success rate.