Dynamic/adaptive treatment planning for radiation therapy

• US 8,437,449 B2
• Filed: 07/25/2005
• Issued: 05/07/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/23/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Varian Medical Systems Incorporated (Siemens AG)
• Original Assignee: Varian Medical Systems Incorporated (Siemens AG)
• Inventors: Riley, James K., Meier, Eric, Wright, J. Nelson, Dimmer, Steven C., Mate, Timothy P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Glick, Edward
• Assistant Examiner(s): Midkiff, Anastasia
• Application Number:
  US11/189,431
• Publication Number:
  US 20060078086A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,843 Days
• Field of Search: 378/65, 378/205, 378/901, 600/407, 600/408, 600424-429, 606/3
• US Class Current: 378/65
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 5/103 Treatment planning systems
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 5/1038 taking into account previously administered plans applied to the same patient, i.e. adaptive radiotherapy
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 5/1048 Monitoring, verifying, controlling systems and methods

Abstract

A facility for facilitating custom radiation treatment planning is described. During a distinguished radiation treatment session for a patient, the facility collects data indicating positioning of a predefined treatment site of the patient relative to a target treatment location throughout the distinguished radiation treatment session. The facility associates the collected positioning data with data describing one or more other aspects of the distinguished radiation treatment session. The facility provides the associated data to a treatment planning facility to determine a treatment plan for future radiation treatment sessions for the patient.

Claims

1. A method in a computing system for facilitating custom radiation treatment planning, comprising:

during a first radiation treatment session for a patient, collecting data indicating actual positioning of a predefined treatment site of the patient relative to a target treatment location in substantially real-time throughout the first radiation treatment session produced by applying non-ionizing radiation to determine the location of markers implanted in the patient'"'"'s body, wherein the first radiation treatment session is associated with a first treatment plan that includes data indicating intended positioning throughout the first radiation treatment session of the predefined treatment site of the patient relative to the target treatment location;

associating the collected positioning data with data describing one or more other aspects of the first radiation treatment session; and

providing the associated data to a treatment planning facility to determine a second treatment plan for a future radiation treatment session for the patient by comparing at least the collected positioning data with the first treatment plan data indicating the intended positioning throughout the first radiation treatment session of the predefined treatment site of the patient relative to the target treatment location, wherein the first radiation treatment session and the future radiation treatment session are performed on different dates over a period of time, wherein the second treatment plan is a modification of the first treatment plan based on the comparison of the collected positioning data with the intended positioning throughout the first radiation treatment session,

wherein the collected positioning data is associated with data describing a plurality of radiation treatment fields used during the first radiation treatment session.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising, before providing the associated data to a treatment planning facility, discarding portions of the associated data corresponding to time periods during which radiation was not delivered to the patient.

3. A method in a computing system for facilitating custom radiation treatment planning, comprising:

during a first radiation treatment session for a patient, collecting data indicating actual positioning of a predefined treatment site of the patient relative to a target treatment location in substantially real-time throughout the first radiation treatment session produced by applying non-ionizing radiation to determine the location of markers implanted in the patient'"'"'s body, wherein the first radiation treatment session is associated with a first treatment plan that includes data indicating intended positioning throughout the first radiation treatment session of the predefined treatment site of the patient relative to the target treatment location;

associating the collected positioning data with data describing one or more other aspects of the first radiation treatment session; and

providing the associated data to a treatment planning facility to determine a second treatment plan for a future radiation treatment session for the patient by comparing at least the collected positioning data with the first treatment plan data indicating the intended positioning throughout the first radiation treatment session of the predefined treatment site of the patient relative to the target treatment location, wherein the first radiation treatment session and the future radiation treatment session are performed on different dates over a period of time, wherein the second treatment plan is a modification of the first treatment plan based on the comparison of the collected positioning data with the intended positioning throughout the first radiation treatment session.

wherein the provided data further comprises data indicating, throughout the first radiation treatment session, a measure of the rate at which radiation energy is delivered.

4. A method in a computing system for facilitating custom radiation treatment planning, comprising:

during a first radiation treatment session for a patient, collecting data indicating actual positioning of a predefined treatment site of the patient relative to a target treatment location in substantially real-time throughout the first radiation treatment session produced by applying non-ionizing radiation to determine the location of markers implanted in the patient'"'"'s body, wherein the first radiation treatment session is associated with a first treatment plan that includes data indicating intended positioning throughout the first radiation treatment session of the predefined treatment site of the patient relative to the target treatment location;

associating the collected positioning data with data describing one or more other aspects of the first radiation treatment session; and

providing the associated data to a treatment planning facility to determine a second treatment plan for a future radiation treatment session for the patient by comparing at least the collected positioning data with the first treatment plan data indicating the intended positioning throughout the first radiation treatment session of the predefined treatment site of the patient relative to the target treatment location, wherein the first radiation treatment session and the future radiation treatment session are performed on different dates over a period of time, wherein the second treatment plan is a modification of the first treatment plan based on the comparison of the collected positioning data with the intended positioning throughout the first radiation treatment session,

wherein the provided data further comprises data indicating, throughout the first radiation treatment session, a cross-sectional shape of a radiation beam in which radiation energy is delivered.

5. A computer-readable storage medium encoded with an adaptive treatment planning data structure for a patient, comprising:

information identifying a completed radiation treatment session in which the patient was treated; and

information indicating the actual location throughout the identified treatment session of a predefined treatment site of the patient relative to a machine isocenter produced by applying non-ionizing radiation to determine the location of markers implanted in the patient'"'"'s body,

wherein the contents of the adaptive treatment planning data structure are usable to generate a treatment plan for a future radiation treatment session for the patient following the identified radiation treatment session by comparing the contents of the adaptive treatment planning data structure to information identifying the intended location throughout the identified treatment session of the predefined treatment site of the patient relative to the machine isocenter, wherein the completed radiation treatment session and the future radiation treatment session are performed on different dates over a period of time,

wherein the information indicating the location throughout the identified treatment session of a predefined treatment site of the patient relative to a target treatment location is structured as a time series that identifies, for a series of times during the treatment session occurring at substantially equal intervals, the location of the predefined treatment site of the patient relative to the target treatment location.

6. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 5 wherein the adaptive treatment planning data structure further comprises information identifying the patient.

7. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 5 wherein the adaptive treatment planning data structure is organized using data description tags.

8. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 5 wherein the adaptive treatment planning data structure is stored in XML format.

9. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 5 wherein the adaptive treatment planning data structure is stored in an extended DICOM format.

10. A method in a computing system for performing custom radiation treatment planning for a patient, comprising:

receiving data indicating, during a foregoing radiation treatment session for a patient, positioning of a predefined treatment site of the patient relative to a machine isocenter throughout the radiation treatment session produced by applying non-ionizing radiation to determine the location of markers implanted in the patient'"'"'s body;

determining a radiation treatment plan for a future radiation treatment session for the patient in a manner responsive to the received data by comparing the received data to a treatment plan corresponding to the foregoing radiation treatment session, the corresponding treatment plan including data indicating intended positioning of the predefined treatment site of the patient relative to the machine isocenter throughout the foregoing radiation treatment session, wherein the foregoing radiation treatment session and the future radiation treatment session are performed on different dates over a period of time; and

storing the determined radiation treatment plan,

wherein code implementing the method is stored in memory of the computing system for execution by a processor of the computing system,

wherein the determined radiation treatment plan includes a specification of a rate at which radiation energy is to be delivered to the patient throughout the future radiation treatment session, and wherein the specified rate is responsive to the received data.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the determined radiation treatment plan includes a specification of a duration for the future radiation treatment session, and wherein the specified duration is responsive to the received data.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein the determined radiation treatment plan includes a specification of a total amount of radiation energy that is to be delivered to the patient throughout the future radiation treatment session, and wherein the specified amount is responsive to the received data.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein the determined radiation treatment plan includes a specification of one or more cross-sectional shapes of a radiation beam in which radiation energy is to be delivered throughout the future radiation treatment session, and wherein the specified shapes are responsive to the received data.

14. The method of claim 10 wherein a radiation treatment plan for future radiation treatment session is determined with reference to a library of solutions to tracking patterns observed in other patients.

15. The method of claim 10 wherein the determined radiation treatment plan specifies a plurality of treatment fields in radiation energy delivery parameters for each field of the plurality.