Radiotherapy Planning and Delivery
AssigneesElekta AB (publ), The Institute of Cancer Research
InventorsMatthias Guckenburger, Anthony Patrick Kavanagh, Kevin Brown
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Abstract
Methods of radiotherapy planning and delivery are disclosed in which a radiation beam is directed towards a time-averaged mean position of the target during radiation-on. In addition, the radiation beam is gated to deliver radiation to the target only when the target is within a treatment volume centred on the mean position. Treatment plans according to embodiments of the present invention result in low doses to the surrounding healthy tissue, but high duty cycles and quicker treatment times.
Claims14
A method of treating a target undergoing cyclical motion within a patient, the method comprising:
- directing a source of therapeutic radiation towards a time-averaged mean position of the target;
- and
- gating the source of therapeutic radiation to deliver radiation only when the target is within a treatment volume centred on the time-averaged mean position, the treatment volume having a relevant dimension smaller than the magnitude of the cyclical motion.
A method of generating a radiotherapy treatment plan for a target undergoing cyclical motion within a patient, the method comprising:
- determining a time-averaged mean position of the target;
- and
- calculating a treatment plan in which a source of therapeutic radiation is directed at the time-averaged mean position of the target, and in which the source of therapeutic radiation is gated to deliver radiation only when the target is within a treatment volume centred on the time-averaged mean position, the treatment volume having a relevant dimension smaller than the magnitude of the cyclical motion.
A computer program product for generating a radiotherapy treatment plan to treat a target undergoing cyclical motion within a patient, the treatment plan to be put into effect by a radiotherapy apparatus having a source of therapeutic radiation, the computer program product comprising code which, when executed on a computer, controls the computer to:
- determine a time-averaged mean position of the target;
- and
- calculate a treatment plan in which the source of therapeutic radiation is directed at the time-averaged mean position of the target, and in which the source of therapeutic radiation is gated to deliver radiation only when the target is within a treatment volume centred on the time-averaged mean position, the treatment volume having a dimension smaller than the magnitude of the cyclical motion.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.