Clinical goal treatment planning and optimization

A method for developing a radiation therapy treatment plan, the method comprising:

• determining a plan objective based on a clinical goal associated with the treatment plan;
• generating a cost function comprising a term based on the plan objective, the term including a parameter;
• identifying a microstate that results in a reduced value associated with the cost function, wherein the reduced value is iteratively converging on a minimum value of the cost function;
• adjusting a value associated with the parameter to improve a fulfillment level associated with the clinical goal;
• and
• generating the radiation therapy treatment plan based on the value.

A computer program product comprising a non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium encoded with instructions operable for execution by a processor to implement operations comprising:

• generating a cost function comprising a parameter value based on a plan objective;
• identifying a microstate that results in a reduced value associated with the cost function, wherein the reduced value iteratively converges on a resultant value of the cost function;
• adjusting a value associated with the parameter to improve a fulfillment level of a clinical goal associated with the plan objective;
• and
• generating a radiation therapy treatment plan based on the resultant value.