Radiation therapy systems and methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11931602-B2
Application number	US-202117227155-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 9, 2021
Priority date	Dec 13, 2016
Publication date	Mar 19, 2024
Grant date	Mar 19, 2024

Abstract

A system including a diagnostic-quality CT scanner for imaging a patient, the diagnostic-quality CT scanner having an imaging isocenter and a radiation therapy device positioned adjacent the diagnostic-quality CT scanner, the radiation therapy device including a gantry carrying a radiation therapy beam source and having a radiation therapy isocenter separate from the imaging isocenter of the diagnostic-quality CT scanner. The system including a couch configured to position the patient for imaging and for radiation therapy by translating the patient between the diagnostic quality CT scanner and the radiation therapy device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory, machine-readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by at least one programmable processor, cause the at least one programmable processor to perform operations comprising:
receiving a treatment plan for the delivery of radiation therapy;
receiving diagnostic-quality CT images from a diagnostic-quality CT scanner;
morphing the treatment plan onto the diagnostic-quality CT images by applying deformable image registration to the treatment plan;
assessing a quality of dose distribution for the treatment plan;
re-optimizing the treatment plan when the quality of dose distribution is determined to be suboptimal; and
determining a dose delivery prediction by converting diagnostic-quality CT numbers in the diagnostic-quality CT images to electron densities.

2. The computer program product of claim 1 , the operations further comprising:
controlling a patient couch to place the patient at a position for diagnostic-quality CT imaging; and
controlling the patient couch to place the patient at the radiation therapy isocenter after receiving the diagnostic-quality CT images.

3. The computer program product of claim 1 , the operations further comprising:
autocontouring tissues and/or targets that were segmented in the treatment plan onto the diagnostic-quality CT images.

4. The computer program product of claim 1 , the operations further comprising:
controlling a patient couch to place the patient at a position for diagnostic-quality CT imaging; and
performing the reoptimizing prior to delivery of radiation therapy.

5. A system comprising:
a diagnostic-quality CT scanner for imaging a patient, the diagnostic-quality CT scanner having an imaging isocenter;
a radiation therapy device positioned adjacent the diagnostic-quality CT scanner, the radiation therapy device including a gantry carrying a radiation therapy beam source and having a radiation therapy isocenter separate from the imaging isocenter of the diagnostic-quality CT scanner;
a patient couch configured to position the patient for imaging and for radiation therapy by translating the patient between the diagnostic-quality CT scanner and the radiation therapy device; and
a non-transitory, machine-readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by at least one programmable processor, cause the at least one programmable processor to perform operations comprising:
receiving a treatment plan for the delivery of radiation therapy;
receiving diagnostic-quality CT images from the diagnostic-quality CT scanner;
morphing the treatment plan onto the diagnostic-quality CT images by applying deformable image registration to the treatment plan;
assessing a quality of dose distribution for the treatment plan;
reoptimizing the treatment plan when the quality of dose distribution is determined to be suboptimal; and
determining a dose delivery prediction by converting diagnostic-quality CT numbers in the diagnostic-quality CT images to electron densities.

6. The system of claim 5 , the operations further comprising:
controlling the patient couch to place the patient at a position for diagnostic-quality CT imaging; and
controlling the patient couch to place the patient at the radiation therapy isocenter after receiving the diagnostic-quality CT images.

7. The system of claim 5 , the operations further comprising:
autocontouring tissues and/or targets that were segmented in the treatment plan onto the diagnostic-quality CT images.

8. The system of claim 5 , the operations further comprising:
controlling the patient couch to place the patient at a position for diagnostic-quality CT imaging; and
performing the reoptimizing prior to delivery of radiation therapy.

Assignees

• Viewray Tech Inc

Inventors

• Kawrykow Iwan
• Chmielewski Thomas
• Dempsey James F

Classifications

• A61N5/1039

  using functional images, e.g. PET or MRI · CPC title

• A61N2005/1061

  using an x-ray imaging system having a separate imaging source · CPC title

• A61N2005/1055

  using magnetic resonance imaging [MRI] · CPC title

• A61N2005/1052

  using positron emission tomography [PET] single photon emission computer tomography [SPECT] imaging · CPC title

• A61N5/1049

  for verifying the position of the patient with respect to the radiation beam · CPC title