Tuning mechanism for oar and target objectives during optimization

A radiation treatment planning method comprising:

• using a computer, performing a plurality of optimization loops wherein each optimization loop includes:
• determining weights for objective functions from at least objective function value goals for the objective functions, wherein each objective function quantifies dose distribution compliance with a corresponding objective for a region of interest defined in a planning image of a patient;
• computing a dose distribution in the patient represented by the planning image wherein the dose distribution is to be delivered by a radiation delivery device represented by a radiation delivery device model executing a parameterized radiation treatment plan;
• and
• producing an optimized dose distribution by adjusting parameters of the parameterized radiation treatment plan to optimize the computed dose distribution in the patient respective to a composite objective function comprising a weighted sum of the objective functions weighted by the determined weights;
• wherein at least one optimization loop further includes updating the OFV goal of at least one objective function wherein the updated OFV goal is used in at least the next-performed optimization loop.

A radiation treatment planning device comprising:

• an electronic processor;
• and
• a non-transitory storage medium storing instructions readable and executable by the electronic processor to perform a radiation treatment planning method comprising performing a plurality of optimization loops wherein each optimization loop includes:
• computing a dose distribution in a patient represented by a planning image wherein the dose distribution is to be delivered by a radiation delivery device represented by a radiation delivery device model executing a parameterized radiation treatment plan;
• and
• producing an optimized dose distribution by adjusting parameters of the parameterized radiation treatment plan to optimize the computed dose distribution in the patient respective to a composite objective function comprising a weighted sum of objective functions including an objective function quantifying compliance with a target dose for a target region of interest (ROI) wherein the target dose is initially set to a prescription dose;
• wherein at least one optimization loop further includes updating the target dose based on a comparison of a metric of coverage of the target ROI and a desired coverage of the target ROI wherein the updated target dose is used in at least the next-performed optimization loop.