Dose computation for radiation therapy using heterogeneity compensated superposition

A method for determining radiation therapy parameters for radiation treatment, comprising:

• receiving information concerning an intended radiation treatment region of a body;
• receiving a calculated initial energy released per unit mass for a plurality of locations within said body;
• computing a radiation dose at a plurality of locations within said radiation treatment region based on said calculated initial energy released per unit mass and including radiation dose contributions due to scattering from other locations within said body;
• and
• determining said radiation therapy parameters for providing said radiation treatment to said intended radiation treatment region based on said radiation dose computed at said plurality of locations within said radiation treatment region,
• wherein said including radiation dose contributions due to scattering from other locations within said body takes into account density variations in said body,
• wherein said computing said radiation dose at each of said plurality of locations within said radiation treatment region comprises an integration of said initial energy released per unit mass over said plurality of locations within said body weighted by a kernel function,
• wherein said kernel function includes an empirically determined effective density function to take into account said density variations in said body, and
• wherein said determining said radiation therapy parameters for providing radiation treatment to said intended radiation treatment region is sufficiently fast to be performed in real-time during a radiation treatment procedure.

A computer readable medium, containing non-transitory executable code, which non-transitory executable code when executed by a computer, causes the computer to:

• receive information concerning an intended radiation treatment region of a body;
• receive a calculated initial energy released per unit mass for a plurality of locations within said body;
• compute a radiation dose at a plurality of locations within said radiation treatment region based on said calculated initial energy released per unit mass and including radiation dose contributions due to scattering from other locations within said body;
• and
• determine radiation therapy parameters for providing radiation treatment to said intended radiation treatment region based on said radiation dose computed at said plurality of locations within said radiation treatment region,
• wherein said including radiation dose contributions due to scattering from other locations within said body takes into account density discontinuities in said body,
• wherein said computing said radiation dose at each of said plurality of locations within said radiation treatment region comprises an integration of said initial energy released per unit mass over said plurality of locations within said body weighted by a kernel function,
• wherein said kernel function includes an empirically determined effective density function to take into account said density variations in said body, and
• wherein said determining said radiation therapy parameters for providing radiation treatment to said intended radiation treatment region is sufficiently fast to be performed in real-time during a radiation treatment procedure.