Geometric aspects of radiation therapy planning and treatment
AssigneesVarian Medical Systems, Inc., Siemens Healthineers International AG
InventorsReynald Vanderstraten, Eric Abel, Christel Smith, Anthony Magliari, Timo Koponen, Josh Star-Lack
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Abstract
Radiation treatment planning includes determining a number of beams to be directed into a target, determining directions (e.g., gantry angles) for the beams, and determining an energy level for each of the beams. The number of beams, the directions of the beams, and the energy levels are determined such that the beams do not overlap outside the target and the prescribed dose will be delivered across the entire target.
Claims19
A computing system comprising:
- a central processing unit (CPU);
- and
- memory coupled to the CPU and having stored therein instructions that, when executed by the computing system, cause the computing system to execute operations to generate a radiation treatment plan, the operations comprising:
- determining a number of beams and directions of the beams, wherein each beam of the beams has a respective Bragg peak, and wherein the directions are determined such that the beams do not overlap outside a target and overlap inside the target;
- determining parameters for shaping the beams to position the respective Bragg peak of each beam in portions of the target that are traversed by a first subset of the beams relative to a second subset of the beams that traverse other portions of the target;
- and
- saving the radiation treatment plan including the determined parameters in a memory of a radiation therapy planning system or radiation therapy treatment system.
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions for causing a computing system to perform a method of radiation treatment planning, the method comprising:
- accessing information specifying a prescribed dose to be delivered into and throughout a target;
- determining a number of beams to be directed into the target, wherein each beam of the beams has a respective Bragg peak;
- determining gantry angles for directing the beams into the target, wherein the gantry angles are determined such that the beams do not overlap outside the target and overlap inside the target;
- determining parameters for shaping the beams to position the respective Bragg peak of each beam in a sub-volume at a corresponding distal edge of the target, wherein, at sub-volumes inside the target that are traversed by a first subset of the beams relative to a second subset of the beams that traverse the sub-volume at each corresponding distal edge of the target, a dose per each beam is less than a dose of the respective Bragg peak of each beam;
- and
- storing the determined number of beams, the determined gantry angles, and the determined parameters in non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of one or more of a radiation therapy planning system and radiation therapy treatment system.
A radiation treatment method, comprising:
- accessing a radiation treatment plan comprising a prescribed dose to be delivered to a target, a number of beams, directions of the beams, parameters for shaping the beams, and a beam energy for each beam of the beams, wherein the number of beams, the directions of the beams, and the beam energy for each beam are determined so that the beams overlap inside the target and do not overlap outside the target, and wherein the parameters for shaping the beams are determined to position a respective Bragg peak of each beam in portions of the target that are traversed by a first subset of the beams relative to a second subset of the beams that traverse other portions of the target;
- and
- directing the beams into the target according to the radiation treatment plan.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.