Method and Apparatus for Measuring, Verifying, and Displaying Progress of Dose Delivery in Scanned Beam Particle Therapy

• US 20170246479A1
• Filed: 05/11/2017
• Published: 08/31/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/22/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Pyramid Technical Consultants, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Pyramid Technical Consultants, Inc.
• Inventors: Boisseau, Raymond Paul, Nett, William P., Gordon, John S., Kollipara, Sashidar, Kozlov, Yuriy
• Granted Patent: US 10,092,777 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 2005/1087 Ions; Protons
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 5/1043 Scanning the radiation beam, e.g. spot scanning or raster scanning
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 5/1067 in real time, i.e. during treatment
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 5/1071 for verifying the dose delivered by the treatment plan

Abstract

The present disclosure is directed to systems and methods for real-time control of a charged particle pencil beam system during therapeutic treatment of a patient. In an aspect, the present disclosure is directed to measuring an actual shape, an actual intensity distribution, and an actual location at isocenter of the charged particle pencil beam. The actual data is compared to model treatment data in real time to determine if a statistically significant variance occurs in which case the charged particle pencil beam can be stopped mid-treatment for correction and/or analysis.

Claims

1. A method for real-time control of a charged particle pencil beam system during therapeutic treatment of a patient, the method comprising:

receiving an image of the charged particle pencil beam during treatment of a target spot;

measuring an actual shape and an actual intensity distribution of the charged particle pencil beam;

determining an actual position of the charged particle pencil beam at an isocenter plane, the actual position corresponding to a location in a pixel of acquired data;

comparing actual data for the target spot with target data for the target spot to form comparison data; and

automatically stopping the therapeutic treatment if the comparison data is greater than a tolerance.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining an active region based on the actual position and the shape of the charged particle pencil beam, the active region comprising at least two pixels; and

comparing each pixel in the active region with a corresponding pixel of the target data to form the comparison data.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

increasing the active region by a gamma radius to define a gamma region;

comparing each pixel in the gamma region with a corresponding pixel of the target data to form the comparison data.

4. The method of claim of claim 3 further comprising:

performing a gamma deviation test on each pixel in the gamma region, the gamma deviation test evaluating whether a pixel in the gamma region of actual data is within a gamma tolerance of a corresponding pixel of the target data.

5. A method for real-time control of a charged particle pencil beam system during therapeutic treatment of a patient, the method comprising:

receiving a treatment map for therapeutic treatment of a patient using a charged particle pencil beam system, the treatment map comprising an array of target spots;

generating an acquired matrix from the treatment map, the acquired matrix comprising pixels having target data corresponding to the array of spots, the target data comprising a target position, a target shape, and a target intensity distribution;

removing target data from first pixels corresponding to a first spot from the treatment map;

therapeutically treating a spot in a patient with a charged particle pencil beam;

measuring an acquired image from a pixelated detector disposed between a charged particle pencil beam source and a magnetic field generator, the acquired image including an actual shape and an actual intensity distribution of the charged particle pencil beam;

determining an actual position of the charged particle pencil beam at an isocenter plane;

defining an active region of pixels that receive at least some intensity of the charged particle pencil beam;

updating the first pixels with acquired data for the active region, the acquired data including the actual position, the actual shape, and the actual intensity distribution of the charged particle beam;

comparing the acquired data with target data for each pixel in the active region to generate comparison data; and

automatically stopping the therapeutic treatment if the comparison data is greater than a tolerance.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

extending the active region by a gamma radius to a gamma test region; and

comparing the acquired data with target data for each pixel in the gamma test region to generate comparison data.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the comparing act comprises performing a gamma deviation test on each pixel in the gamma test region.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

if a pixel does not pass the gamma deviation test, which results in a failed pixel, performing a secondary comparison of the failed pixel.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising:

defining a search region surrounding the failed pixel by a search radius; and

performing an epsilon deviation test on the search region.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising stopping the therapeutic treatment if a tolerance number of pixels in a tolerance area fails the epsilon test.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising stopping the therapeutic treatment if a tolerance number of pixels in a tolerance area fails the gamma test.