Model predictive control for treating cancer with ultrasonic heating

This paper investigates thermal ablation of cancer tissue as a controls problem. The objective is to deliver a lethal dose of thermal energy to the cancer tissue without damaging critical nearby healthy tissue. This paper proposes a model predictive controller (MPC) to regulate thermal dose. The model predictive controller guarantees the safety of the healthy tissue surrounding the tumor. The cost function rewards killing cancer cells. Simulations comparing the proposed controller with the bang-bang controller used in practice demonstrate that the MPC controller kills more of the cancer tissue and requires less time than the bang-bang controller, while damaging less healthy tissue.