Planning system, method and apparatus for conformal radiation therapy
First Claim
1. A system to determine an optimal radiation beam arrangement for applying radiation to a tumor target volume while minimizing radiation of a non-target structure volume in a patient, the system comprising a computer planning apparatus including:
- a treatment plan optimization computer having a memory to store data and treatment plan optimization software therein; and
an input device in communication with the treatment plan optimization computer to provide user access to control functions of the treatment plan optimization software;
the treatment plan optimization software comprising a set of instructions that, when executed by the treatment plan optimization computer, causes the computer to perform operations to computationally obtain a proposed radiation beam arrangement and to computationally iteratively optimize the proposed radiation beam arrangement based on a plurality of constraints to form the optimized radiation beam arrangement, the treatment plan optimization software including a graphical user interface to display an at least two-dimensional image slice of the tumor target volume and the non-target structure volume, graphical objects, and graphical representations of radiation dose distribution calculated for each iteration of the proposed radiation beam arrangement overlaid upon the displayed image slice, the operations comprising;
receiving inputs from the input device representing direct graphical user manipulation of a graphical representation of radiation dose distribution for a current iteration of the proposed radiation beam arrangement displayed on the graphical user interface, andresponsive to user manipulation of the displayed graphical representation of radiation dose distribution for the current iteration of the proposed radiation beam arrangement, computationally obtaining and providing data to graphically display a graphical representation of radiation dose distribution for a next iteration of the proposed radiation beam arrangement which substantially realizes the graphically altered radiation dose distribution, to thereby iteratively form the optimized radiation beam arrangement;
the graphical representation of the radiation dose distribution for the current iteration of the proposed radiation beam arrangement displayed on the graphical user interface and directly graphically manipulated via the input device, comprising one or more of the following;
an isodose plot including a plurality of isodose contours according to the current proposed radiation beam arrangement overlaid upon the image slice of the target tumor volume and the non-target structure volume, at least one of the plurality of isodose contours of the isodose plot directly graphically manipulatable by a user to graphically alter proposed radiation dose to at least one volume of interest to produce the next iteration of the proposed radiation beam arrangement which substantially realizes the graphically altered radiation dose, the at least one volume of interest comprising one or more of the following;
the target tumor volume and the non-target structure volume, anda plurality of dose volume histogram curves according to the current proposed radiation beam arrangement, at least one dose volume histogram curve of the plurality of this volume histogram curves directly graphically manipulatable by the user to graphically alter proposed radiation dose to the at least one volume of interest to produce the next radiation beam arrangement which substantially realizes the graphically altered radiation dose.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and associated methods to determine an optimal radiation beam arrangement are provided. The system includes a computer planning apparatus which includes a treatment plan optimization computer having a memory and an input device in communication with the treatment plan optimization computer to provide user access to control functions of plan optimization software. An image gathering device is in communication with the treatment plan optimization computer through a communications network to provide an image slice of the tumor target volume and the non-target structure volume. The plan optimization software computationally obtains and then optimizes a proposed radiation beam arrangement iteratively based on constraints to form an optimized radiation beam arrangement. A conformal radiation therapy delivery device in communication with the treatment plan optimization computer through the communications network then applies the optimized radiation beam arrangement to the patient.
99 Citations
38 Claims
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1. A system to determine an optimal radiation beam arrangement for applying radiation to a tumor target volume while minimizing radiation of a non-target structure volume in a patient, the system comprising a computer planning apparatus including:
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a treatment plan optimization computer having a memory to store data and treatment plan optimization software therein; and an input device in communication with the treatment plan optimization computer to provide user access to control functions of the treatment plan optimization software; the treatment plan optimization software comprising a set of instructions that, when executed by the treatment plan optimization computer, causes the computer to perform operations to computationally obtain a proposed radiation beam arrangement and to computationally iteratively optimize the proposed radiation beam arrangement based on a plurality of constraints to form the optimized radiation beam arrangement, the treatment plan optimization software including a graphical user interface to display an at least two-dimensional image slice of the tumor target volume and the non-target structure volume, graphical objects, and graphical representations of radiation dose distribution calculated for each iteration of the proposed radiation beam arrangement overlaid upon the displayed image slice, the operations comprising; receiving inputs from the input device representing direct graphical user manipulation of a graphical representation of radiation dose distribution for a current iteration of the proposed radiation beam arrangement displayed on the graphical user interface, and responsive to user manipulation of the displayed graphical representation of radiation dose distribution for the current iteration of the proposed radiation beam arrangement, computationally obtaining and providing data to graphically display a graphical representation of radiation dose distribution for a next iteration of the proposed radiation beam arrangement which substantially realizes the graphically altered radiation dose distribution, to thereby iteratively form the optimized radiation beam arrangement; the graphical representation of the radiation dose distribution for the current iteration of the proposed radiation beam arrangement displayed on the graphical user interface and directly graphically manipulated via the input device, comprising one or more of the following; an isodose plot including a plurality of isodose contours according to the current proposed radiation beam arrangement overlaid upon the image slice of the target tumor volume and the non-target structure volume, at least one of the plurality of isodose contours of the isodose plot directly graphically manipulatable by a user to graphically alter proposed radiation dose to at least one volume of interest to produce the next iteration of the proposed radiation beam arrangement which substantially realizes the graphically altered radiation dose, the at least one volume of interest comprising one or more of the following;
the target tumor volume and the non-target structure volume, anda plurality of dose volume histogram curves according to the current proposed radiation beam arrangement, at least one dose volume histogram curve of the plurality of this volume histogram curves directly graphically manipulatable by the user to graphically alter proposed radiation dose to the at least one volume of interest to produce the next radiation beam arrangement which substantially realizes the graphically altered radiation dose. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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4. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising a computer program stored thereon to determine an optimized radiation beam arrangement for applying radiation to a target tumor volume while minimizing radiation to a non-target structure volume in a patient, the computer program comprising a set of instructions that, when executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform the following operations:
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providing data to graphically display an image slice of the target tumor volume and the non-target structure volume; providing data to graphically display radiation dose for the target tumor volume and for the non-target structure volume on the image slice and in a form of a first isodose plot including a plurality of isodose contours according to a first radiation beam arrangement, the plurality of isodose contours of the first isodose plot being directly graphically manipulatable by a user to graphically alter the radiation dose to at least one volume of interest to produce a second radiation beam arrangement which substantially realizes the graphically altered radiation dose, the at least one volume of interest comprising one or more of the following;
the target tumor volume and the non-target structure volume;receiving inputs representing direct graphical user manipulation of a graphically displayed user-selected isodose contour of the plurality of isodose contours of the first isodose plot according to the first radiation beam arrangement; and responsive to the direct graphical user manipulation of the graphically displayed user-selected isodose contour, computationally obtaining, and providing data to graphically display, radiation dose for the target tumor volume and the non-target structure volume on the image slice in a form of a second isodose plot including a plurality of isodose contours according to the second radiation beam arrangement. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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11. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising a computer program stored thereon to determine an optimized radiation beam arrangement for applying radiation to a target tumor volume while minimizing radiation to a non-target structure volume in a patient, the computer program comprising a set of instructions that, when executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform the following operations:
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providing data to graphically display radiation dose for the target tumor volume and the non-target structure volume in the form of a first plurality of dose volume histogram curves according to a first radiation beam arrangement, the plurality of dose volume histogram curves being directly graphically manipulatable by a user to graphically alter radiation dose to at least one volume of interest to produce a second radiation beam arrangement which substantially realizes the graphically altered radiation dose, the at least one volume of interest comprising one or more of the following;
the target tumor volume and the non-target structure volume;receiving inputs representing direct graphical user manipulation of a graphically displayed user-selected dose volume histogram curve of the plurality of dose volume histogram curves according to the first radiation beam arrangement; and responsive to the direct graphical user manipulation of the graphically displayed user-selected dose volume histogram curve, computationally obtaining, and providing data to graphically display, radiation dose for the target tumor volume and the non-target structure volume in the form of a second plurality of dose volume histogram curves according to the second radiation beam arrangement. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 33)
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15. A method of determining an optimized radiation beam arrangement for applying radiation to a target tumor volume while minimizing radiation to a non-target structure volume in a patient, the method comprising the steps of:
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graphically displaying an image slice of the target tumor volume and the non-target structure volume; graphically displaying radiation dose for the target tumor volume and for the non-target structure volume on the image slice and in the form of a first isodose plot including a plurality of isodose contours according to a first radiation beam arrangement defining a first treatment plan; and directly graphically manipulating a graphically displayed user-selected isodose contour of the plurality of isodose contours of the first isodose plot with a pointing device by a user to alter the radiation dose for at least one volume of interest, the at least one volume of interest comprising one or more of the following;
the target tumor volume and the non-target structure volume; anddisplaying a second isodose plot including a plurality of isodose contours according to a second radiation beam arrangement defining a second radiation treatment plan which substantially realizes the corresponding graphically altered radiation dose. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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20. A method of determining an optimized radiation beam arrangement for applying radiation to a target tumor volume while minimizing radiation to an non-target structure volume in a patient, the method comprising the steps of:
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graphically displaying radiation dose for the target tumor volume and for the non-target structure volume in the form of a plurality of dose volume histogram curves according to a first radiation beam arrangement defining a first treatment plan; and directly graphically manipulating a graphically displayed user-selected dose volume histogram curve of the plurality of dose volume histogram curves with a pointing device by a user to alter the radiation dose for at least one volume of interest, the at least one volume of interest comprising one or more of the following;
the target tumor volume and the non-target structure volume; anddisplaying the user-selected dose volume histogram curve according to a second radiation beam arrangement defining a second treatment plan which substantially realizes the corresponding graphically altered radiation dose. - View Dependent Claims (21, 38)
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Specification