We develop a physical model to simulate the movement of lungs during respiration. This work relates directly to treatment with radiotherapy or hadrontherapy of lung cancer and lies within the context of ETOILE project (Espace de Traitement Oncologique par Ions Légers dans le cadre Européen).
Since lung tumors can move and deform due to respiration, it is essential to know their real-time position in order to guide the radiation beam so that it targets only the tumor.
Several techniques are clinically used to anticipate for tumor motion. But all of these techniques have major drawbacks : the irradiation of a volume greater than that of the tumor and the inaccurate localization of the tumor due to the fact of non-reproducibility of respiratory motion. The biomechanical model that we develop aims to accurately estimate the position of tumors and organs traversed by the beam. This model is based on continuum mechanics laws solved with the finite element method. The originality of the model is based on the fact that it must be driven by external parameters (thorax surface motion, air flow into lungs ...) during treatment sessions.