Real time radiation treatment planning system
First Claim
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1. A real time radiation treatment dosage planning system for use in effecting radiation therapy of a preselected anatomical portion of an animal body, the system comprising:
- radiation delivery means for defining a plurality of positions having a spatial relationship within a volume of the anatomical portion and for placing a radiation source at said plurality of positions;
imaging means for generating real time visual image data corresponding to the anatomical portion;
means responsive to the real time visual image data for monitoring said plurality of positions to detect a change in the spatial relationship of said positions;
processing means for automatically generating, in response to a detected change in the spatial relationship of said positions, a treatment plan including a generated value of the radiation source and a generated time period the radiation source is to be placed at each position by the radiation delivery means.
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Abstract
A radiation treatment planning system utilizes a standard interface circuit to continuously digitize and display image data generated by an anatomical imaging device, such as an ultrasound unit. The acquired image data includes positional information of one or more radiation delivery devices relative to an anatomical area to be treated. The acquired data is processed to rapidly determine a radiation dose plan, which is displayed in real time as a superimposed image over the image of the anatomical area being treated.
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Citations
22 Claims
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1. A real time radiation treatment dosage planning system for use in effecting radiation therapy of a preselected anatomical portion of an animal body, the system comprising:
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radiation delivery means for defining a plurality of positions having a spatial relationship within a volume of the anatomical portion and for placing a radiation source at said plurality of positions; imaging means for generating real time visual image data corresponding to the anatomical portion; means responsive to the real time visual image data for monitoring said plurality of positions to detect a change in the spatial relationship of said positions; processing means for automatically generating, in response to a detected change in the spatial relationship of said positions, a treatment plan including a generated value of the radiation source and a generated time period the radiation source is to be placed at each position by the radiation delivery means. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. In a therapy system for applying radiation to a preselected anatomical portion of an animal body by using means responsive to control data for indexing a position and holding each position for predetermined time periods of a radiation source within a plurality of guide members inserted into the anatomical portion, placement of each guide member with respect to the anatomical portion being monitored by scanning means, the improvement comprising:
processing means including means coupled to the scanning means for capturing real time visual image data generated thereby and using said real time visual image data to monitor said plurality of positions to detect a change in the spatial relationship of said positions, and means for automatically generating, in response to a detected change in the spatial relationship of said positions, revised control data for use by the means for indexing and indicating each indexed position of the radiation source within the plurality of guide members and each dwell time of the source at each indexed position. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method for generating a radiation treatment dosage plan for use in applying radiation to a preselected anatomical portion of an animal body by a radiation delivery system operable to place a radiation source in a plurality of positions within a volume of the anatomical portion, the method comprising:
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generating real time visual image data corresponding to the anatomical portion with a scanner; capturing the real time visual image data at a stored program processor and automatically generating, using the captured real time visual data, a time period during which the radiation source is to be placed at each of the plurality of positions; monitoring the real time visual image data to detect a change in at least one of said plurality of positions and, in response to a detected change, automatically regenerating said time period during which the radiation source is to be placed at each of the plurality of positions; and transmitting an indication of the value of the time periods to the radiation delivery system. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17)
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18. A method for generating a radiation treatment dosage plan for use in applying radiation to a preselected anatomical portion of an animal body with a radiation source indexable to a plurality of dwell positions within each of a plurality of guide tubes inserted at a plurality of locations within the anatomical portion, the method comprising:
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(a) generating real time visual image data corresponding to the anatomical portion with a scanner; (b) selecting a location within the anatomical portion for one of the guide tubes and placing the one guide tube at the selected location; (c) generating, with the scanner, real time visual image data of the location selected in step (b) and combining it with the visual image data corresponding to the anatomical portion and to any previously positioned guide tubes; (d) capturing the real time visual image data generated by steps (a) and (c) and automatically generating, using the captured image data, a dwell time period for each position of the radiation source within all guide tubes currently in place; and (e) repeating steps (b) through (d) for successive ones of the plurality of guide tubes while automatically revising dwell time periods previously generated, in response to a change in position of any previously positioned guide tubes, until a volume of the anatomical portion is enveloped by a preselected radiation dose profile. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22)
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Specification