Radiotherapeutic Treatment Plan Adaptation

• US 20110103551A1
• Filed: 07/28/2005
• Published: 05/05/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/13/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Bal, Matthieu, McNutt, Todd, Spies, Lothar
• Granted Patent: US 8,306,185 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 5/103 Treatment planning systems
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 5/1031 using a specific method of dose optimization
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/40 relating to mechanical, radiation or invasive therapies, e.g. surgery, laser therapy, dialysis or acupuncture

Abstract

In a radiation therapy method, one or more planning images are acquired (102) of a subject. Features of at least malignant tissue are contoured in the one or more planning images to produce one or more initial feature contours. One or more treatment images of the subject are acquired (114). The one or more initial feature contours are updated (122) based on the one or more treatment images. Radiation treatment parameters are optimized (126) based upon the updated one or more feature contours. Radiation treatment of the subject is performed (130) using the optimized parameters.

Claims

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14. A radiation therapy method comprising:

performing a plurality of radiation treatment sessions on a subject, each session employing a pre-selected radiation treatment plan, at least some sessions including;

acquiring one or more treatment images of the subject,

adjusting parameters of the radiation treatment plan based on the one or more treatment images to produce adjusted treatment plan parameters, and

performing the radiation treatment plan using the adjusted treatment plan parameters.

15. The radiation therapy method as set forth in claim 14, wherein the preselected treatment plan includes treatment parameters optimized from malignant tissue and organ at risk contours generated from a planning image and wherein adjusting the treatment plan parameters includes:

adjusting the malignant tissue and at risk organ contours in conformity with the treatment image; and

re-optimizing the treatment parameters from the adjusted contours.

16. The radiation therapy method as set forth in claim 14, further comprising, prior to the first radiation treatment session, determining initial treatment plan parameters using a method comprising:

acquiring one or more planning images of the subject,

extracting at least one of anatomical, functional, and biological information from the one or more planning images including at least information on (i) malignant tissue to be irradiated and (ii) at least one organ at risk, and

optimizing the treatment plan parameters with respect to the extracted information to produce the initial treatment plan parameters, the optimizing using criteria including at least (i) producing substantial irradiation of the malignant tissue and (ii) limiting irradiation of the at least one organ at risk.

17. The radiation therapy method as set forth in claim 16, wherein the adjusting of parameters of the radiation treatment plan based on the one or more treatment images to produce adjusted treatment plan parameters comprises:

registering the one or more treatment images with the one or more planning images, the registering including deformation of one of (i) the one or more treatment images and (ii) the one or more planning images;

deforming one or more spatial aspects of the extracted anatomical, functional, or biological information based on the deformation employed in the registering to produce updated anatomical, functional or biological information; and

re-optimizing the treatment plan parameters with respect to the updated anatomical, functional, or biological information.

18. The radiation therapy method as set forth in claim 17, wherein the extracting of information includes contouring the malignant tissue to be irradiated and the at least one organ at risk to produce corresponding contours, and the deforming of one or more spatial aspects includes deforming the contours.

19. The radiation therapy method as set forth in claim 16, wherein the acquiring of one or more planning images employs one or more planning imaging modalities, and the acquiring one or more treatment images employs one or more treatment imaging modalities at least one of which is different from the one or more planning imaging modalities.

20. The radiation therapy method as set forth in claim 19, wherein the one or more planning imaging modalities include a planning computed tomography imaging scanner operating at a planning imaging resolution and the one or more treatment imaging modalities include a planning computed tomography imaging scanner operating at a treatment imaging resolution lower than the planning imaging resolution.

21. The radiation therapy method as set forth in claim 19, wherein the one or more planning imaging modalities includes a computed tomography imaging scanner and the one or more treatment imaging modalities are selected from a group consisting of:

an ultrasound imaging scanner,

a magnetic resonance imaging scanner,

a computed tomography imaging scanner, and

a megavolt imaging scanner employing a radiation source used in the performing of the radiation treatment plan.

22. An apparatus for performing the method as set forth in claim 14.

23. A radiation therapy method comprising:

acquiring one or more planning images of a subject;

contouring features of at least malignant tissue in the one or more planning images to produce one or more initial feature contours;

acquiring one or more treatment images of the subject;

updating the one or more initial feature contours based on the one or more treatment images;

optimizing radiation treatment parameters based upon the updated one or more feature contours; and

performing radiation treatment of the subject using the optimized parameters.

24. The radiation therapy method as set forth in claim 23, wherein the contoured features are selected from a group consisting of:

(i) anatomical features, (ii) biological features, and (iii) functional features.

25. The radiation therapy method as set forth in claim 23, wherein the updating of the one or more feature contours includes:

registering the one or more treatment images with the one or more planning images; and

adjusting the one or more feature contours based on the registering.

26. The radiation therapy method as set forth in claim 25, wherein the registering uses a voxel-based elastic function and the adjusting includes adjusting a shape of the contour based on elastic deformation indicated by the voxel-based elastic function.

27. The radiation therapy method as set forth in claim 23, further including:

optimizing radiation treatment parameters based upon the one or more initial feature contours to produce starting parameter values,

wherein the optimizing based upon the updated one or more feature contours uses the starting parameter values as initial values for the optimization.

28. The radiation therapy method as set forth in claim 23, further comprising:

repeating the performing of radiation treatment of the subject using the optimized parameters without repeating the optimizing.

29. A radiation therapy system comprising:

a means for acquiring one or more planning images of a subject;

a means for contouring features of at least malignant tissue in the one or more planning images to produce one or more initial feature contours;

a means for acquiring one or more treatment images of the subject;

a means for updating the one or more initial feature contours based on the one or more treatment images;

a means for optimizing radiation treatment parameters based upon the updated one or more feature contours; and

a means for performing radiation treatment of the subject using the optimized parameters.

30. The radiation therapy system as set forth in claim 29, wherein the means for acquiring one or more treatment images and the means for performing radiation treatment include a common subject support.

31. The radiation therapy system as set forth in claim 29, wherein the means for acquiring one or more planning images and the means for acquiring one or more treatment images each include at least one imaging modality selected from a group consisting of:

ultrasound imaging,

fluoroscopy imaging,

computed tomography imaging,

magnetic resonance imaging,

single photon emission computed tomography imaging,

positron emission tomography imaging, and

megavolt computed tomography imaging employing a radiation source used in the performing of the radiation treatment plan.

32. The radiation therapy system as set forth in claim 29, wherein the means for updating the one or more initial feature contours based on the one or more treatment images includes:

an image registration processor that registers the one or more treatment images with the one or more planning images; and

a contours update processor that deforms a shape of the one or more initial feature contours based on the image registration.

33. A radiation therapy system for radiation therapy of a subject in accordance with a radiation treatment plan computed based on information representative of (i) malignant tissue to be irradiated and (ii) one or more organs at risk, the radiation therapy system comprising:

a means for adjusting radiation treatment parameters of a previously selected radiation treatment plan based on treatment images to produce and adjusted treatment plan.

34. The radiation therapy system as set forth in claim 33, further including:

a means for acquiring the treatment images of the subject;

a means for updating the information based on the treatment images; and

,

a means for performing radiation treatment of the subject using the adjusted treatment parameters.

35. The radiation therapy system as set forth in claim 33, wherein the information representative of (i) malignant tissue to be irradiated and (ii) one or more organs at risk includes at least one of:

(i) anatomical information acquired by anatomical imaging and (ii) biological or functional information acquired by functional imaging.

36. The radiation therapy system as set forth in claim 33, wherein the previously selected treatment plan parameters are optimized from malignant tissue and at risk organ contours generated from a planning image and the means for adjusting comprises:

a contours update processor for adjusting the malignant tissue and at risk organ contours to conform to the treatment image; and

a treatment plan parameter optimizing processor for re-optimizing the treatment parameters from the adjusted contours.

37. A radiation therapy system comprising:

means for acquiring one or more planning images of the subject,

means for determining an initial radiation therapy plan;

means for acquiring one or more treatment images of the subject;

means for adjusting one or more parameters of the radiation treatment plan based on the one or more treatment images to produce adjusted treatment plan parameters, and

means for performing the radiation treatment plan using the adjusted treatment plan parameters;

wherein said means for acquiring one or more planning images includes an imaging modality different from said means for acquiring one or more treatment images.