Apparatus and method pertaining to radiation-treatment planning optimization
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- by a radiation-treatment planning apparatus;
accessing information regarding a treatment target and at least one operational parameter pertaining to a physical characteristic of a given radiation-treatment platform;
accessing a candidate treatment plan pertaining to treating the treatment target using the given radiation-treatment platform, wherein the candidate treatment plan comprises, at least in part, a plurality of control points;
optimizing the candidate treatment plan by permitting, temporarily, discontinuities of the at least one operational parameter as between at least some adjacent ones of the plurality of control points to thereby yield an optimized treatment plan.
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Abstract
A radiation-treatment planning apparatus accesses information regarding a treatment target and at least one operational parameter pertaining to a physical characteristic of a given radiation-treatment platform. The apparatus also accesses information regarding a candidate treatment plan using the given platform. The apparatus then optimizes the candidate treatment plan by permitting, temporarily, discontinuities of the at least one operational parameter as between adjacent ones of a plurality of control points to thereby yield an optimized treatment plan. By one approach, this operational parameter can comprise a speed at which a collimator aperture can be changed. In such a case, the aforementioned discontinuities can comprise discontinuities with respect to the speed at which this aperture can be changed. So configured, these teachings will accommodate temporarily permitting speeds that are too fast to be actually performed by the given radiation-treatment platform.
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Citations
17 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
by a radiation-treatment planning apparatus; accessing information regarding a treatment target and at least one operational parameter pertaining to a physical characteristic of a given radiation-treatment platform; accessing a candidate treatment plan pertaining to treating the treatment target using the given radiation-treatment platform, wherein the candidate treatment plan comprises, at least in part, a plurality of control points; optimizing the candidate treatment plan by permitting, temporarily, discontinuities of the at least one operational parameter as between at least some adjacent ones of the plurality of control points to thereby yield an optimized treatment plan. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A radiation-treatment planning apparatus comprising:
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a memory having stored therein information regarding a treatment target and at least one operational parameter pertaining to a physical characteristic of a given radiation-treatment platform; a treatment-plan optimizer being operably coupled to the memory and being configured to; access a candidate treatment plan pertaining to treating the treatment target using the given radiation-treatment platform, wherein the candidate treatment plan comprises, at least in part, a plurality of control points; optimize the candidate treatment plan by permitting, temporarily, discontinuities of the at least one operational parameter as between adjacent ones of the plurality of control points to thereby yield an optimized treatment plan. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16)
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13. The apparatus of 12 wherein the discontinuities comprises discontinuities with respect to the speed at which the leaves of the multi-leaf collimator can be changed, such that, temporarily, the step of optimizing the candidate treatment plan includes permitting speeds that are too fast to be actually performed by the given radiation-treatment platform.
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17. A method comprising:
by a radiation-treatment planning apparatus; accessing information regarding a treatment target and at least one operational parameter pertaining to a physical characteristic of a given radiation-treatment platform; accessing a candidate treatment plan pertaining to treating the treatment target using the given radiation-treatment platform, wherein the candidate treatment plan comprises, at least in part, a plurality of control points; optimizing the candidate treatment plan by; permitting, temporarily, at least one unconstrained change of the at least one operational parameter as between at least some adjacent ones of the plurality of control points to thereby yield an iterated treatment plan; further processing the iterated treatment plan while permitting only constrained changes of the at least one operational parameter as between at least some adjacent ones of the plurality of control points to thereby yield an optimized treatment plan.
Specification