Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34505969›Full record

ArticleHealth care management science2022

A two-phase approach for the Radiotherapy Scheduling Problem.

Tu-San Pham, Louis-Martin Rousseau, Patrick De Causmaecker

Abstract read
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In one paragraph

Article in Health care management science, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
2.0field-weighted citation impact, top 14% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed, 11 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Waiting time interpretations: Complexity and consequences for radiotherapy delays.Technical innovations & patient support in radiation oncology · 2026
    Article
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

Tu-San PhamPolytechnique Montréal, Montréal, Canada. tu-san.pham@polymtl.ca.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3599-4530
Louis-Martin RousseauPolytechnique Montréal, Montréal, Canada.
Patrick De CausmaeckerKU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
Polytechnique Montréal · CAKU Leuven · BE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The Radiotherapy Scheduling Problem (RTSP) focuses on optimizing the planning of radiotherapy treatment sessions for cancer patients. In this paper, we propose a two-phase approach for the RTSP. In the first phase, radiotherapy sessions are assigned to specific linear accelerators (linacs) and days. The second phase then decides the sequence of patients on each day/linac and the specific appointment times. For the first phase, an Integer Linear Programming (IP) model is proposed and solved using CPLEX. For the second phase, a Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MIP) and a Constraint Programming (CP) model are proposed. The test data is generated based on real data from CHUM, a large cancer center in Montréal, Canada, with an average of 3,500 new patients and 40,000 radiotherapy treatments per year. The results show that in the second phase, CP is better at finding good solutions quickly while MIP is better at closing optimality gaps with more run time. Lastly, a simulation is conducted to evaluate the impact of different scheduling strategies on the outcome of the scheduling. Preliminary results show that batch scheduling reduces patients' waiting time and overdue time.

Indexed as

Appointments and SchedulesProgramming, LinearComputer SimulationHumansNeoplasmsParticle AcceleratorsRadiotherapyConstraint ProgrammingInteger ProgrammingOperations researchRadiotherapy schedulingSimulation

Identifiers

PMID34505969
OpenAlexW3198667813

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.