Treatment planning tool for multi-energy electron beam radiotherapy
AssigneeStandard Imaging, Inc.
InventorsJohn Gentry, Christopher Kubiak, Keith Nelson, Bhudatt Paliwal, Raymond Riddle, Myles Sommerfeldt, Richard Steeves
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A stand-alone calculator enables multi energy electron beam treatments with standard single beam electron beam radiotherapy equipment thereby providing improved dose profiles. By employing user defined depth-dose profiles, the calculator may work with a wide variety of existing standard electron beam radiotherapy systems.
Claims22
A treatment planning tool for use with a standard electron beam radiation therapy machine producing a spatially unmodulated electron beam at one of a predetermined set of electron energies, the treatment planning tool comprising a program executing on a computer to:
- (a) accept a dose description indicating a desired dose as a function of depth along a central axis of the electron beam;
- (b) determine a combination of sequential electron energy exposures using the electron beam radiation therapy machine, each exposure employing an electron beam with a different depth-dose profile so that the combination of sequential electron energy exposures satisfies the dose description;
- and
- (c) output data for implementing each sequential exposure on the electron beam radiation therapy machine.
A treatment planning tool for use with a standard radiation therapy machine producing a spatially unmodulated electron beam and a spatially unmodulated photon beam at predetermined energies, the treatment planning tool comprising a program executing on a computer to:
- (a) accept a dose description indicating a desired dose as a function of depth along a central axis of the electron beam;
- (b) determine a combination of sequential exposures including at least one electron beam and one photon beam, each exposure providing a different depth-dose profile so that the combination of sequential exposures satisfies the dose description;
- and
- (c) output data for implementing each sequential exposure on the radiation therapy machine.
A treatment planning tool for use with an electron beam radiation therapy machine producing an electron beam at one of a predetermined set of electron energies, the treatment planning tool comprising a program executing on a computer to:
- (a) accept a dose description indicating a desired dose as a function of depth for use with a radiation therapy treatment planning system to produce a treatment plan;
- (b) determine a combination of sequential electron energy exposures using the electron beam radiation therapy machine, each exposure employing an electron beam with a different electron energy so that the combination of sequential electron energy exposures satisfies the dose description;
- and
- (c) output a graphical plot showing dose as a function of depth for the combination of sequential electron energy exposures.
A method of electron beam radiotherapy comprising the steps of:
- (a) preparing a dose description indicating a desired dose as a function of depth along a central axis of the electron beam;
- (b) executing a program on a computer to accept the dose description for use with a radiation therapy treatment planning system to prepare a treatment plan for a standard electron beam radiation therapy machine using at least two spatially unmodulated electron beam at different energies so that a combination of sequential electron energy exposures satisfy the dose description;
- and
- (c) manually setting the standard electron beam radiation therapy machine to expose a treatment area of a patient at a first time with a first electron beam at a first energy and at a second time with a second electron beam at a second energy according to the treatment plan.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.