Method and apparatus to facilitate supplementing a dose-volume histogram constraint using an adaptive dose-volume histogram constraint
AssigneeVarian Medical Systems International AG
InventorsJanne Nord, Jarkko Peltola
Life of this patent
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Abstract
One provides a first dose-volume histogram (DVH) constraint as pertains to controlling localized excessive-radiation dosage with respect to a particular treatment volume. One then automatically determines whether to supplement this constraint by using an adaptive DVH constraint. These teachings will accommodate determining whether to supplement the first DVH constraint, at least in part, by determining whether a user has specified such supplementation (using, for example, a corresponding user interface) by, for example, placing at least one DVH constraint such that the constraint corresponds to a volume fraction at a range boundary.
Claims20
A method comprising:
- at a radiation-treatment planning apparatus:
- providing a first dose-volume histogram constraint as pertains to controlling localized excessive-radiation dosage with respect to a particular treatment volume;
- automatically determining whether to supplement the first dose-volume histogram constraint by determining whether a user has specified such supplementation via placement of at least one dose-volume histogram constraint using a corresponding user interface;
- and
- upon determining to supplement the first dose-volume histogram constraint, automatically supplementing the first dose-volume histogram constraint using an adaptive dose-volume histogram constraint.
An apparatus comprising:
- a dose-volume histogram-based user interface;
- a memory;
- and
- a control circuit operably coupled to the dose-volume histogram-based user interface and the memory and being configured to:
- recover from the memory a first dose-volume histogram constraint as pertains to controlling localized excessive-radiation dosage with respect to a particular treatment volume;
- automatically determine whether to supplement the first dose-volume histogram constraint by determining whether a user has specified such supplementation via the dose-volume histogram-based user interface via placement of at least one dose-volume histogram constraint using the user interface;
- and
- upon determining to supplement the first dose-volume histogram constraint, automatically supplement the first dose-volume histogram constraint using an adaptive dose-volume histogram constraint.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.