Method and system for evaluating quality assurance criteria in delivery of a treatment plan

• US 8,442,287 B2
• Filed: 08/10/2010
• Issued: 05/14/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/22/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Accuray Incorporated
• Original Assignee: TomoTherapy Incorporated (Accuray Incorporated)
• Inventors: Fordyce, Gerald D. II, Ruchala, Kenneth J., Schnarr, Eric, Chen, Yu, Reitz, Graham T., Finley, Scott, O'Connell, Rob, Orton, Matthew
• Primary Examiner(s): STREGE, JOHN B
• Application Number:
  US12/854,139
• Publication Number:
  US 20110112351A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,008 Days
• Field of Search: 382/128, 382/131, 382/132, 600/427
• US Class Current: 382/128
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 5/103 Treatment planning systems
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 5/1037 taking into account the movement of the target, e.g. 4D-image based planning
• 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 5/1042 with spatial modulation of the radiation beam within the treatment head
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 5/1048 Monitoring, verifying, controlling systems and methods
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 5/1049 for verifying the position of the patient with respect to the radiation beam
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 5/1065 Beam adjustment
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 5/1067 in real time, i.e. during treatment
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 5/1069 Target adjustment, e.g. moving the patient support
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 5/107 in real time, i.e. during treatment
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 5/1075 for testing, calibrating, or quality assurance of the radiation treatment apparatus

Abstract

System and method of determining whether a component of a radiation therapy system is operating within a dosimetric tolerance. The method can include the acts of generating a treatment plan for a patient, the treatment plan specifying a radiation amount to be delivered to the patient, delivering radiation to the patient according to the treatment plan, obtaining feedback during the delivery of radiation, the feedback related to one of a position, a velocity, and an acceleration for one of a multi-leaf collimator, a gantry, a couch, and a jaws, generating a mathematical model based on the feedback for one of the multi-leaf collimator, the gantry, the couch, and the jaws, calculating a delivered dose amount based on the mathematical model and treatment plan information, calculating a deviation in dose between the radiation amount specified in the treatment plan and the delivered dose amount, and determining whether the deviation in dose is within a dosimetric tolerance for the one of the multi-leaf collimator, the gantry, the couch, and the jaws.

Claims

1. A method of determining whether a component of a radiation therapy system is operating within a dosimetric tolerance, the method comprising:

generating a treatment plan for a patient, the treatment plan specifying a radiation amount to be delivered to the patient;

delivering radiation to the patient according to the treatment plan;

obtaining feedback during the delivery of radiation, the feedback related to one of a position, a velocity, and an acceleration for one of a multi-leaf collimator, a gantry, a couch, and a jaws;

generating a mathematical model based on the feedback for one of the multi-leaf collimator, the gantry, the couch, and the jaws;

calculating a delivered dose amount based on the mathematical model and treatment plan information;

calculating a deviation in dose between the radiation amount specified in the treatment plan and the delivered dose amount; and

determining whether the deviation in dose is within a dosimetric tolerance for the one of the multi-leaf collimator, the gantry, the couch, and the jaws.

2. A method of determining whether a component of a radiation therapy system deviated from specified operation, the method comprising:

generating a treatment plan for a patient, the treatment plan specifying a radiation amount to be delivered to the patient;

delivering radiation to the patient according to the treatment plan;

obtaining feedback during the delivery of radiation, the feedback related to one of a position, a velocity, and an acceleration for one of a multi-leaf collimator, a gantry, a couch, and a jaws;

calculating a delivered dose amount based on the feedback;

calculating a deviation in dose between the radiation amount specified in the treatment plan and the delivered dose amount; and

adjusting one of the multi-leaf collimator, the gantry, the couch, and the jaws to minimize the deviation in dose.