System and method for passive ion radiotherapy treatment planning and delivery

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11969608-B2
Application number	US-201917415019-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 12, 2019
Priority date	Dec 20, 2018
Publication date	Apr 30, 2024
Grant date	Apr 30, 2024

Abstract

A method of generating a radiotherapy plan for ion therapy, wherein the beam (6) is shaped by means of passive devices is arranged to allow variation in settings of at least one of the passive devices and/or the MU during the delivery of the beam and to control the movement of the patient and/or the beam in such a way as to create an arc. The arc is preferably a continuous arc or includes at least one continuous sub-arc. The method may include forward planning or optimization. In the latter case, the optimization uses an optimization problem set up to allow variation in settings of at least one of the range modulating device (9), the aperture element (11) and the MU during the delivery of the arc. Computer programs control the planning and the delivery.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of generating a radiotherapy plan for ion therapy designed to expose a patient to ion radiation delivered as a beam, wherein the beam is delivered as an arc, which is a continuous arc or includes at least one continuous sub-arc, and wherein the beam is shaped by means of passive devices including: a range modulating device for creating a spread out Bragg peak, SOBP, and an aperture element for shaping the beam laterally, said method being arranged to allow variation in settings of at least one of the range modulating device, the aperture element and a segment MU during the delivery of the beam, wherein the passive devices include a range compensator which is placed around the patient or across the area of the patient that will be affected by the beam, the method involving optimization, wherein the optimization uses an optimization problem set up to allow variation in settings of the range compensator.

2. The method according to claim 1 , involving forward planning.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the optimization problem is set up to allow variation in settings of at least one of the range modulating device, the aperture element and the segment MU during the delivery of the arc.

4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein the optimization problem is set up to optimize the arc for at least a first and a second control point, each control point corresponding to a relative angle between the beam and the patient, and an isocenter, and to return a plan where the settings for the range modulating device, the MU and/or the aperture element are different for the first and second control point.

5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein more than one control point is used for the same gantry angle and isocenter.

6. The method according to claim 3 , involving multi-criteria optimization and/or robust optimization.

7. A computer program product, stored in a non-transitory storage means which, when run in a computer will cause the computer to perform the method of claim 1 .

8. A computer system for performing dose calculations for radiotherapy, the system comprising processing means, said computer system having a program memory having stored therein a computer program product according to claim 7 in such a way that the computer program product, when executed, will control the processing means to perform the dose planning.

9. A computer program product comprising computer readable code means, stored in a non-transitory storage means, which, when run in a computer, will cause the computer to control a radiotherapy delivery system to deliver an ion beam to a patient, wherein passive devices are used to shape the beam, said passive devices including a range modulating device and an aperture element said code means being arranged to cause variation in the settings of at least one of the range modulating device, the aperture element and the MU during the delivery of the beam and to control the movement of the patient and/or the beam in such a way as to create an arc, wherein the arc is a continuous arc or includes at last one continuous sub-arc, the passive devices further including a range compensator which is placed around the patient or across the area of the patient that will be affected by the beam, and the optimization being set up to allow variation in settings of the range compensator.

10. The computer program product according to claim 9 , wherein the radiotherapy delivery system is arranged to provide the beam from a rotatable radiation source and the code means is arranged to cause the computer to control movement of the radiation source relative to the patient.

11. The computer program product according to claim 9 , wherein the radiation source is fixed and the patient is placed on a patient support structure that is moveable relative to the beam and the code means is arranged to cause the computer to control movement of the patient support structure relative to the beam.

12. The computer program product according to claim 9 , wherein the code means is arranged to control the at least one passive device to vary the beam characteristics between different control points corresponding to points on the patient.

13. A radiotherapy delivery system for delivering a passive ion treatment plan wherein an ion beam is delivered to a patient in an arc, wherein the arc is a continuous arc or includes at last one continuous sub-arc, the system comprising a means for providing a fixed beam, a range modulating device for creating a spread out Bragg peak, SOBP, and an aperture element for shaping the beam laterally, the system further comprising a processor and a program memory comprising a computer program product according to claim 10 arranged to be run in the processor for controlling the delivery of the beam.

14. The radiotherapy delivery system according to claim 13 , further comprising a patient support structure arranged to hold the patient and move the patient relative to the fixed beam in such a way that the fixed beam will form an arc over at least a part of the patient's body.

Assignees

• Raysearch Lab Ab

Inventors

• Fredriksson Albin
• Engwall Erik
• Eriksson Kjell
• Traneus Erik

Classifications

• A61N5/1031 Primary

  using a specific method of dose optimization · CPC title

• A61N5/1078

  Fixed beam systems · CPC title

• A61N2005/1087

  Ions; Protons · CPC title

• A61N5/103 Primary

  Treatment planning systems · CPC title