Systems and methods for automatic treatment planning and optimization

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12011613-B2
Application number	US-202217665838-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 7, 2022
Priority date	Sep 9, 2019
Publication date	Jun 18, 2024
Grant date	Jun 18, 2024

Abstract

Systems and methods for the automatic generation and optimization of radiation therapy treatment plans, and systems and methods for the automatic generation and optimization of an adapted plan in an adaptive radiation therapy workflow.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An automatic treatment planning system, comprising:
a user interface; and
a treatment planning module configured to automatically generate a treatment plan candidate based on a prioritized set of clinical goals obtained via the user interface and a set of clinical goals converted from Dose Volume Histogram (DVH) estimates obtained using a knowledge-based DVH model,
wherein the treatment planning module is configured to:
obtain, for each relevant structure of a patient, a Dose Volume Histogram (DVH) estimate based on the DVH model;
convert the DVH estimate into a clinical goal;
generate a quality metric based on the prioritized set of clinical goals and the clinical goals converted from the DVH estimates;
generate a cost function based on the quality metric; and
generate a treatment plan based on the cost function.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the converting of the DVH estimate into a clinical goal includes:
comparing a DVH line representing a current DVH for a structure with a DVH line representing the DVH estimate; and
calculating a value representing differences between the current and the estimate DVH lines.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the calculating of the value includes calculating a sum of the square of negative differences between the current and estimate DVH lines.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the negative differences represent differences between the current and estimate DVH lines over the entire DVH line.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the generated clinical goals include corresponding priorities.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the treatment planning module further comprises:
a quality metric generator to generate the quality metric,
wherein relative priorities of both the prioritized clinical goals and the converted clinical goals are configured to be dynamically modified by a user via the user interface.

7. The system of claim 6 , further comprising:
an optimizer to generate treatment plan parameters by optimizing the cost function; and
a controller to control the optimization based on the quality metric.

8. A method for generating a treatment plan, comprising:
applying a knowledge-based model to generate estimate DVH lines for structures of a patient;
converting the estimate DVH lines into a set of generated clinical goals, each generated clinical goal including a priority;
generating a quality metric based on the generated clinical goals and prioritized clinical goals obtained from a first source of clinical data via a user interface;
generating a cost function based on the quality metric; and
generating a treatment plan by optimizing the cost function,
wherein relative priorities of the prioritized clinical goals and relative priorities of the generated clinical goals are configured to be dynamically modified by a user via the user interface, and
wherein the optimizing is guided by the quality metric.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the converting includes:
comparing a DVH line representing a current DVH for a structure with a DVH line representing the DVH estimate; and
calculating a value representing differences between the current and estimate DVH lines.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the calculating of the value includes calculating a sum of the square of negative differences between the current and estimate DVH lines, wherein the negative differences represent differences between the current and estimate DVH lines over the entire DVH line.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising generating treatment plan parameters based on the optimized cost function, the treatment plan parameters being configured to be executed by a treatment device.

Assignees

• Siemens Healthineers Int Ag

Inventors

• Peltola Jarkko
• Suhonen Pauli
• Boylan Christopher
• Thompson Stephen
• Kuusela Esa

Classifications

• G06F17/10

  Complex mathematical operations {(function generation by table look-up G06F1/03; evaluation of elementary functions by calculation G06F7/544)} · CPC title

• A61N2005/1074

  Details of the control system, e.g. user interfaces · CPC title

• A61N5/1075

  for testing, calibrating, or quality assurance of the radiation treatment apparatus · CPC title

• A61N2005/1091

  Kilovoltage or orthovoltage range photons · CPC title

• A61N5/1031 Primary

  using a specific method of dose optimization · CPC title