Triggered treatment systems and methods

• US 10,183,179 B1
• Filed: 07/21/2017
• Issued: 01/22/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 07/21/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Siemens Healthineers International AG (Siemens AG)
• Original Assignee: Varian Medical Systems Incorporated (Siemens AG), Varian Medical Systems International AG (Siemens AG)
• Inventors: Smith, Christel, Zankowski, Corey, Timmer, Jan Hein, Kaissl, Wolfgang, Khuntia, Deepak, Abel, Eric, Star-Lack, Josh, Noel, Camille
• Primary Examiner(s): Yun, Jurie
• Application Number:
  US15/657,072
• Publication Number:
  US 20190022416A1
• Time in Patent Office: 550 Days
• Field of Search: 378 65
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/0481 against EM radiation, e.g. microwave
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 2005/1061 using an x-ray imaging system having a separate imaging source
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 2005/1094 Shielding, protecting against radiation
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 5/1049 for verifying the position of the patient with respect to the radiation beam
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 5/1067 in real time, i.e. during treatment
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 5/1069 Target adjustment, e.g. moving the patient support
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 5/1075 for testing, calibrating, or quality assurance of the radiation treatment apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 5/1077 Beam delivery systems

Abstract

In various embodiments, a radiation therapy method can include loading a planning image of a target in a human. In addition, the position of the target can be monitored. A computation can be made of an occurrence of substantial alignment between the position of the target and the target of the planning image. Furthermore, after the computing, a beam of radiation is triggered to deliver a dosage to the target in a short period of time (e.g., less than a second).

Claims

1. A radiation therapy method comprising:

loading a planning image of a target in a human;

monitoring the position of said target;

computing an occurrence of substantial alignment between the position of said target and said target of said planning image, said computing comprises utilizing a sum of a real-time deformation vector-field; and

after said computing, triggering a beam of radiation to deliver a dosage to said target in less than a second.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said planning image comprises a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) image.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said monitoring comprises performing fluoroscopy.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said planning image comprises a computed tomography (CT) image.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said triggering is performed manually by a human.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said computing comprises a visual representation of said sum of said real-time deformation vector-field.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said monitoring comprises generating a real-time image of said target.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said computing comprises a visual representation comprising a bar graph.

9. A radiation therapy method comprising:

loading a planning image of a target in a human;

monitoring the position of said target;

mapping said target in both said monitoring and said planning image;

computing an occurrence of substantial alignment between the position of said target and said target of said planning image, said computing comprises utilizing a sum of a real-time deformation vector-field; and

after said computing, triggering a beam of radiation to deliver a fraction of a dosage to said target in less than a second.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said planning image comprises a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) image.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein said monitoring comprises performing fluoroscopy.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein said planning image comprises a computed tomography (CT) image.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein said triggering is performed manually by a human.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein said computing comprises a visual representation of said sum of said real-time deformation vector-field.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein said computing comprises a visual representation comprising a bar graph.

16. A radiation therapy method comprising:

loading a planning image of a target in a human;

monitoring the position of said target;

computing an occurrence of substantial alignment between the position of said target and said target of said planning image, said computing comprises utilizing a sum of a real-time deformation vector-field;

after said computing, triggering a beam of radiation to deliver a dosage to said target in less than a second; and

after said triggering, performing quality assurance utilizing information associated with said monitoring.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein said planning image comprises a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) image.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein said monitoring comprises performing fluoroscopy.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein said triggering is performed manually by a human.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein said computing comprises a visual representation comprising a bar graph.