Automatically determining a beam parameter for radiation treatment planning

• US 7,590,219 B2
• Filed: 03/30/2007
• Issued: 09/15/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/07/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Accuray Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Accuray Incorporated
• Inventors: Maurer, Calvin R. Jr., Allison, John W., West, Jay B.
• Primary Examiner(s): THOMAS, COURTNEY D
• Application Number:
  US11/731,115
• Publication Number:
  US 20080011945A1
• Time in Patent Office: 900 Days
• Field of Search: 378/65, 378145-153
• US Class Current: 378/65
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 5/103 Treatment planning systems
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 5/1036 Leaf sequencing algorithms
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 5/1042 with spatial modulation of the radiation beam within the treatment head
• CPC Class Codes: G21K 1/046 varying the contour of the field, e.g. multileaf collimators

Abstract

Systems and methods for automatically determining a beam parameter at each of a plurality of treatment nodes are disclosed. The beam parameter may include a beam shape, beam size and/or beam orientation. Systems and methods for automatically selecting multiple collimators in a radiation treatment system are also disclosed.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

automatically determining a beam parameter at each of a plurality of treatment nodes, wherein the beam parameter is a geometric primitive for a beam shape; and

automatically calculating a dose distribution based on the beam parameter at each of the plurality of treatment nodes.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the geometric primitive includes a circle.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the geometric primitive includes an ellipse.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the geometric primitive is a regular polygon.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the geometric primitive is an irregular polygon.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the beam shape is determined using a geometry of a target to be radiated.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a beam size.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the beam size is determined using a geometry of a target to be radiated.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the beam size is determined using a packing algorithm.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the beam parameter comprises a beam orientation.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the beam orientation is determined using a packing algorithm.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the beam orientation is determined using a geometry of a target to be radiated.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising automatically selecting one or more collimators based on the beam parameter.

14. A method of generating a treatment plan for a radiation delivery treatment system comprising:

at a node position, stacking together radiation beams at different orientations to match a target silhouette;

automatically determining a beam parameter at the node position; and

generating the treatment plan based on at least the beam parameter.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the beam parameter comprises a beam shape.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the beam shape is a geometric primitive.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the geometric primitive includes a circle.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the geometric primitive includes an ellipse.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the geometric primitive is a regular polygon.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the geometric primitive is an irregular polygon.

21. The method of claim 16, wherein the beam shape is determined using a geometry of a target to be radiated.

22. The method of claim 14, wherein the beam parameter comprises a beam size.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the beam size is determined using a geometry of a target to be radiated.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein the beam size is determined using a packing algorithm.

25. The method of claim 14, wherein the beam parameter comprises a beam orientation.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the beam orientation is determined using a packing algorithm.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein the beam orientation is determined using a geometry of a target to be radiated.

28. The method of claim 14, further comprising automatically selecting one or more collimators based on the beam parameter.

29. A system comprising:

means for automatically determining a beam parameter at each of a plurality of treatment nodes, wherein the beam parameter is a geometric primitive for a beam shape; and

means for automatically calculating a dose distribution based on the beam parameter at each of the plurality of treatment nodes.

30. The system of claim 29, further comprising means for automatically determining a beam size.

31. A system for generating a treatment plan for a radiation delivery treatment system comprising:

means for, at a node position, stacking together radiation beams at different orientations to match a target silhouette;

means for automatically determining a beam parameter at the node position; and

means for generating the treatment plan based on at least the beam parameter.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein the beam parameter is a beam size.

33. The system of claim 31, where the beam parameter is a beam shape.

34. An apparatus comprising:

a radiation beam treatment system to deliver a radiation beam to a treatment site using a collimator; and

a radiation treatment planning system operatively coupled to the radiation beam treatment system, the radiation treatment planning system to determine a beam parameter at each of a plurality of treatment nodes, wherein the beam parameter is a geometric primitive for a beam shape of the collimator, and automatically calculate a dose distribution based on the beam parameter at each of the plurality of treatment nodes.

35. An apparatus for generating a treatment plan for a radiation delivery treatment system comprising:

a radiation beam treatment system to deliver a radiation beam to a treatment site; and

a radiation treatment planning system operatively coupled to the radiation beam treatment system, the radiation treatment planning system to, at a node position, stack together radiation beams at different orientations to match a target silhouette, automatically determine a beam parameter at the node position, and generate the treatment plan based on at least the beam parameter.

36. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the beam parameter is a beam size.

37. The apparatus of claim 35, where the beam parameter is a beam shape.