Digital twins to advance radiotherapy safety Radiation therapy is commonly used after surgery for various types of cancer, including breast cancer. Despite protection and safety measures, radiation therapy can inadvertently expose the lung and heart to radiation, raising the risk of severe cardiac and pulmonary diseases and secondary tumours.

The EU-funded TETRIS project aims to develop and test personalised risk scores to better predict and mitigate such risks caused by radiation therapy. Researchers will calibrate radiation doses, taking into account patient-specific data from imaging, genetics and transcriptomics. To further improve radioprotection strategies, TETRIS will explore the use of digital twins or virtual replicas of individual patients for enhanced risk assessment and tailored treatment plans.