SYSTEM AND METHOD OF DETECTING A BREATHING PHASE OF A PATIENT RECEIVING RADIATION THERAPY

• US 20070201613A1
• Filed: 07/21/2006
• Published: 08/30/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 07/22/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Accuray Incorporated
• Original Assignee: TomoTherapy Incorporated (Accuray Incorporated)
• Inventors: Lu, Weiguo, Chen, Mingli, Chen, Quan, Ruchala, Kenneth, Olivera, Gustavo
• Granted Patent: US 8,229,068 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 378/65
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 2005/1061 using an x-ray imaging system having a separate imaging source
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 5/1042 with spatial modulation of the radiation beam within the treatment head
• 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

Abstract

A system and method of detecting a breathing phase of a patient receiving radiation therapy is disclosed. The method, in one implementation, includes the acts of obtaining a plurality of patient images representing phases of a breathing cycle, delivering radiation to the patient, collecting transmission data of the patient during the delivering radiation, and comparing the transmission data to the plurality of patient images.

Claims

1. A method of detecting a breathing phase of a patient receiving radiation therapy, the method comprising:

obtaining a plurality of patient images representing phases of a breathing cycle;

delivering radiation to the patient;

collecting transmission data of the patient during the delivering radiation; and

comparing the transmission data to the plurality of patient images.

2. A method as set forth in claim 1 wherein the delivering radiation occurs during at least one phase of the breathing cycle.

3. A method as set forth in claim 1 and further comprising tracking the breathing cycle based at least in part on the comparison.

4. A method as set forth in claim 1 and further comprising determining anatomical changes of the patient based at least in part on the comparison.

5. A method as set forth in claim 1 wherein the delivering radiation to the patient includes delivering radiation through the patient with a megavoltage CT, a kilovoltage CT, or a cone-beam CT system, and wherein the collecting transmission data comprises collecting transmission data from the radiation delivered through the patient.

6. A method as set forth in claim 1 wherein the delivering radiation to the patient includes delivering treatment radiation through the patient, and wherein the collecting transmission data comprises collecting transmission data from a treatment radiation.

7. A method as set forth in claim 1 wherein the delivering radiation to the patient includes delivering radiation through the patient with a fluoroscopy device, and wherein the collecting transmission data comprises collecting transmission data from the radiation delivered through the patient.

8. A method as set forth in claim 1 wherein the obtaining a plurality of patient images includes obtaining a plurality of three-dimensional patient images, and wherein the comparing act includes comparing the transmission data to the plurality of three-dimensional images.

9. A method as set forth in claim 8 wherein the plurality of three-dimensional images includes a first three-dimensional snapshot of the patient at a first determined breathing state and a second three-dimensional snapshot of the patient at a second determined breathing state.

10. A method as set forth in claim 8 wherein the obtaining three-dimensional images includes obtaining the plurality of three-dimensional images before providing therapy to the patient.

11. A method as set forth in claim 1, further comprising precomputing data based on the plurality of images, and wherein the comparing act includes comparing the transmission data to the precomputed data.

12. A method as set forth in claim 1 wherein the radiation therapy is delivered by a radiation therapy system including a multi-leaf collimator (MLC), wherein the comparing act includes accounting for an MLC pattern.

13. A method as set forth in claim 1 wherein the radiation therapy is delivered according to a treatment plan, and wherein the comparing act includes accounting for system parameters.

14. A method as set forth in claim 1 and further comprising determining a phase of the breathing cycle with the comparison and changing the treatment using the determined phase.

15. A method as set forth in claim 1 and further comprising determining a phase of the breathing cycle with the comparison and using the determined phase for dose calculation.

16. A method as set forth in claim 1 and further comprising determining a phase of the breathing cycle with the comparison and constructing a motion module using the determined phase.

17. A method as set forth in claim 1 wherein the plurality of images are from a computed tomography system.

18. A method as set forth in claim 1 wherein the plurality of images are from a magnetic resonance imaging system.

26. A method as set forth in claim 6 and further comprising modifying a treatment of the patient to be more amendable to the collecting transmission data.

19. A system for detecting a breathing phase of a patient receiving radiation therapy, the system comprising:

a radiation therapy device including a computer processor, a radiation module operable to deliver radiation to the patient, and a detector operable to collect transmission radiation; and

a software program stored in a computer readable medium accessible by the computer processor, the software program being operable to obtain a plurality of patient images representing phases of a breathing cycle, obtain transmission data of the patient from the collected transmission radiation, and compare the transmission data to the plurality of patient images.

20. A system as set forth in claim 19 wherein the radiation module delivers radiation during at least one phase of the breathing cycle.

21. A system as set forth in claim 19 wherein the software program is further operable to track the breathing cycle based at least in part on the comparison.

22. A system as set forth in claim 19 wherein the software program is further operable to determine anatomical changes of the patient based at least in part on the comparison.

23. A system as set forth in claim 19 wherein the software program obtains a plurality of patient images by obtaining a plurality of three-dimensional patient images, and wherein the comparison includes comparing the transmission data to the plurality of three-dimensional images.

24. A system as set forth in claim 19 wherein the radiation module includes a multi-leaf collimator (MLC), and wherein the comparison includes accounting for a MLC pattern.

25. A system as set forth in claim 19 wherein the software program is further operable to determine a phase with the comparison and change the delivering of radiation using the determined phase.