A Machine-to-Machine Knowledge-Guided LLM Agent for Generalizable Radiotherapy Treatment Planning

Abstract

In this work, we propose a prototype machine-to-machine (M2M) knowledge-guided Large Language Model (LLM) framework for automated radiotherapy treatment planning. In the proposed paradigm, Treatment Planning Parameter (TPP) distribution knowledge discovered by a Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) agent is transferred to an LLM agent through in-context learning, enabling autonomous iterative planning without human intervention. While standard LLM-based planning often lacks physical intuition and struggles with convergence, the integration of DRL-derived guidance constrains the agent to a physically valid parameter space. Experimental evaluations are performed across three diverse planning scenarios: basic prostate cases, complex prostate configurations with increased organ-at-risk (OAR) constraints, and liver cases. The evaluation results demonstrate that the guided LLM agent consistently achieves optimal planning scores while significantly reducing the number of iterations compared to unguided planning. Analysis of the final TPP configurations reveals that the agent successfully learns a hierarchical priority of objectives, effectively restoring a logical "cause-and-effect" relationship between parameter tuning and dosimetric outcomes. Crucially, this prototype framework exhibits robust generalizability, maintaining high planning quality regardless of specific patient anatomy, treatment site, or initial plan quality. By bridging the specialized optimization of DRL with the adaptive reasoning of LLMs, this M2M framework establishes a scalable foundation towards generalizable autonomous treatment planning, ultimately benefiting clinical practice in realistic environments.