René Werner

Institute: University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE)

Date: April 24, 2025

Title: Advancing 4D CT imaging for 4D radiotherapy: insights into the IPMI lab at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf

Abstract: 4D CT is a cornerstone of radiotherapy (RT) of thoracic and abdominal lesions. It has recently been stated that “developments on 4D CT seem to be mostly on paper, with minimum to none being incubated to mature commercial products” (Tryggestad et al., JACMP, Feb 2023). Which is not the whole truth. In my presentation, I will provide insight into the development of intelligent 4D CT (i4DCT), meanwhile known as Direct i4D, a joint journey of our IPMI (image processing and medical imaging) lab and Siemens Healthineers. Furthermore, I will detail our ideas and preliminary data on AI-guided projection data acquisition and dose reduction for Direct i4D. However, 4D CT is only one specific step in current RT workflows. In the last part of the talk, I will focus on the broader picture: the importance of a unified 4D RT strategy and methodical challenges from an image processing perspective.