Method and system for dose calculation based on continuous material indexing

A system for simulating energy transport between particles and a patient undergoing radiotherapy, comprising:

• a memory for storing computer-executable instructions;
• and
• a processor for executing the computer-executable instructions to perform instruction operations comprising:
• generating a three-dimensional representation of a region of interest of a patient that includes voxels;
• using the three-dimensional representation, identifying a plurality of boundary materials within an individual voxel;
• selecting from the plurality of boundary materials within the individual voxel, a combination of a first boundary material and a second boundary material for the individual voxel based on a material property for the individual voxel, wherein the first boundary material is different from the second boundary material;
• determining a material index of the individual voxel based on a combination of the first and second boundary materials and identifiers assigned to the boundary materials, the material index for the individual voxel having a first part including an identifier of only the first boundary material within the individual voxel and a second part including a percentage of the individual voxel associated with the second boundary material;
• simulating energy transport between a particle and the individual voxel by calculating an amount of energy deposited by the particle within the patient based on the material index of the individual voxel and a list of boundary materials;
• and
• generating a display using the simulated energy transport between the patient and the particles.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium including computer-executable instructions, which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method for simulating energy transport between particles and an object in radiotherapy, the method comprising:

• using a three-dimensional representation of a region of interest in the patient that includes voxels, identifying a plurality of boundary materials for an individual voxel and a plurality of identifiers associated with the plurality of boundary materials;
• selecting, from the plurality of boundary materials for the individual voxel, a combination of a first boundary material and a second boundary material for the individual voxel based on a material property of the individual voxel;
• determining a continuous material index for the individual voxel based on the combination of the first boundary material and the second boundary material, wherein the continuous material index represents respective volumetric proportions of the first boundary material and the second boundary material for the individual voxel;
• simulating energy transport between a particle and the individual voxel by calculating an amount of energy deposited by the particle within the individual voxel based on the continuous material index, including simulating an interaction between the particle and the individual voxel, the interaction taking place in one of the first or second boundary material that is randomly chosen from the first and second boundary materials present in the individual voxel;
• and
• generating a display using the simulated energy transport between the patient and the particles.

A computer-implemented method for simulating energy transport between particles and a patient in radiotherapy, utilizing at least one processor, comprising:

• using a three-dimensional representation of a region of interest in the patient that includes voxels, identifying a plurality of boundary materials for an individual voxel in the patient and a plurality of identifiers associated with the plurality of boundary materials;
• selecting from the plurality of boundary materials for the individual voxel, a combination of a first boundary material and a second boundary material for the individual voxel based on a material property of the individual voxel, wherein the first boundary material is different from the second boundary material;
• determining a continuous material index for the individual voxel based on the combination of the first boundary material and the second boundary material, wherein the continuous material index represents respective volumetric proportions of the first boundary material and the second boundary material for the individual voxel;
• simulating energy transport between a particle and the individual voxel by calculating an amount of energy deposited by the particle within the individual voxel based on the continuous material index, including simulating an interaction between the particle and the individual voxel, the interaction taking place in one of the first or second boundary material that is randomly chosen from the first and second boundary materials present in the individual voxel;
• and
• displaying the energy transport simulations to a user.

A computer-implemented method for simulating energy transport between particles and a patient in radiotherapy, utilizing at least one processor, comprising:

• using a three-dimensional representation of a region of interest in the patient that includes voxels, identifying a plurality of boundary materials for an individual voxel in the patient and a plurality of identifiers associated with the plurality of boundary materials;
• selecting from the plurality of boundary materials for the individual voxel, a combination of a first boundary material and a second boundary material for the individual voxel based on a material property of the individual voxel, wherein the first boundary material is different from the second boundary material;
• determining a continuous material index for the individual voxel based on the combination of the first boundary material and the second boundary material, wherein the continuous material index represents respective volumetric proportions of the first boundary material and the second boundary material for the individual voxel;
• simulating energy transport between a particle and the individual voxel by calculating an amount of energy deposited by the particle within the individual voxel based on the continuous material index, including simulating an interaction between the particle and the individual voxel, the interaction taking place in one of the first or second boundary material that is randomly chosen from the first and second boundary materials present in the individual voxel;
• and
• using the simulated energy transport to plan or manage radiotherapy delivered to the subject.