Radiation treatment planning method and apparatus
AssigneeWisconsin Alumni Research Foundation
InventorTimothy W. Holmes
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of radiation treatment planning for radiation systems providing multiple beams of independently adjustable intensities limits the iterative beam weight determination to a set of discrete beam weights avoiding errors in post-optimization truncation of the beam weights, and decreasing the iteration time. Those beams having a greatest effect on the solution are preferentially adjusted and larger changes between discrete values of beam weights are given preference to smaller changes.
Claims12
A method of planning radiation treatment of a treatment volume of a patient using a radiation therapy machine generating a plurality of radiation beams to be directed through different parts of the volume, the beams having independently controllable intensities, the method comprising the steps of:
- operating an electronic computer according to a stored program to:
- 1) pre-compute a standard dose map for a plurality of volume elements within the treatment volume for each beam, under the assumption that the beams have a predetermined normal beam intensity;
- 2) receive from a user an objective function indicating a desired distribution of dose the plurality of volume elements within the treatment volume;
- 3) scale the standard dose map for each beam by a current weight for that beam and sum the scaled standard dose maps together to produced a computed dose map;
- 4) evaluate the computed dose according to the objective function;
- 5) adjust the current weight of at least one beam according to the evaluation of step (4) and repeat steps (3) through (5) until the value of the objective has stabilized;
- and
- 6) at the conclusion of step (5) output the adjusted current beam weights as a radiation treatment plan.
A method of planning radiation treatment of a treatment volume, of a patient using a radiation therapy machine generating a plurality of radiation beams to be directed through different parts of the volume, the beams having independently controllable intensities, the method comprising the steps of:
- operating an electronic computer according to a stored program to:
- 1) receive from a user a limited set of discrete intensity values to which each beam will conform;
- 2) receive from a user an objective function indicating a desired distribution of dose in the plurality of volume elements within the treatment volume;
- 3) compute from a current weight for each beam, a computed dose map;
- 4) evaluate the computed dose according to the objective function;
- 5) adjust the current weights of the beams according to the evaluation of step (4) to different ones of the discrete intensity values and repeat steps (3) through (5) until the value of the objective has stabilized;
- and
- 6) output the adjusted beam weights as a radiation treatment plan.
A radiation treatment system comprising:
- a radiation source generating a plurality of radiation beams to be directed through different parts of a treatment volume, the beams having independently controllable intensities according to a control signal;
- and
- an electronic computer according to a stored program to:
- 1) pre-compute a standard dose map for a plurality of volume elements within the treatment volume for each beam, under the assumption that the beams have a predetermined normal beam intensity;
- 2) receive from a user an objective function indicating a desired distribution of dose in the plurality of volume elements within the treatment volume;
- 3) scale the standard dose map for each beam by a current weight for that beam and sum the scaled standard dose maps together to produce a computed dose map;
- 4) evaluate the computed dose according to the objective function;
- 5) adjust the current weight of at least one beam according to the evaluation of step (4) and repeat steps (3) through (5) until the value of the objective has stabilized;
- and
- 6) at the conclusion of step (5) output the adjusted current beam weights as a radiation treatment plan.
A radiation treatment system comprising:
- a radiation source generating a plurality of radiation beams to be directed through different parts of a treatment volume, the beams having independently controllable intensities according to control signal;
- and
- an electronic computer according to a stored program to:
- 1) receive from a user a limited set of discrete intensity values to which each beam will conform;
- 2) receive from a user an objective function indicating a desired distribution of dose in the plurality of volume elements within the treatment volume;
- 3) compute from a current weight for each beam, a computed dose map;
- 4) evaluate the computed dose according to the objective function;
- 5) adjust the current weights of the beams according to the comparison of step (4) to different ones of the discrete intensity values and repeat steps (3) through (5) until the value of the objective has stabilized;
- and
- 6) output the adjusted beam weights as a radiation treatment plan.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.