Method and system for treatment planning

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12491379-B2
Application number	US-202318315978-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 11, 2023
Priority date	May 11, 2023
Publication date	Dec 9, 2025
Grant date	Dec 9, 2025

Abstract

A computer-implemented method may be provided to aid in radiation treatment planning, the method comprising: receiving treatment plan parameters including a reference dose value for a target region of a patient and a defined dose value for a surrounding region; determining whether the defined dose value for the surrounding region exceeds a threshold; and responsive to determining that the defined dose value for the surrounding region does not exceed the threshold, modifying the defined dose value for the surrounding region, and applying an optimization procedure to a treatment plan for radiation treatment of the patient with the modified dose value for the surrounding region.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A computer-implemented method for radiation treatment planning, the method comprising:
receiving one or more treatment plan parameters including a reference dose value for a target region of a patient and a defined dose value for a surrounding region; determining whether the defined dose value for the surrounding region exceeds a threshold; and responsive to determining that the defined dose value for the surrounding region does not exceed the threshold, increasing the defined dose value for the surrounding region to the threshold, and applying an optimization procedure to a treatment plan for radiation treatment of the patient with the increased dose value for the surrounding region.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the optimization procedure comprises:
determining a dose distribution indicating expected dosage in the target region and in the surrounding region, based on the reference dose value for the target region and the increased dose value for the surrounding region.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the optimization procedure comprises:
responsive to determining that the dose distribution indicates that the expected dosage in the surrounding region matches the increased dose value for the surrounding region, adjusting the increased dose value towards the defined dose value; and repeatedly determining the dose distribution until a stopping criterion for the dosage in the surrounding region is reached.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the reference dose value for the target region is a minimum dose value for treatment of the target region; and the defined dose value for the surrounding region is a maximum dose value for the surrounding region during treatment of the target region.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the optimization procedure reduces a cost function which is representative of dose excess value in the surrounding region and/or the target region.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the cost function is a maximum dose, (MXD), cost function or a serial cost function.

7 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the cost function is a serial cost function.

8 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the optimization procedure further reduces the cost function with respect to one or more optimizable parameters.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the one or more treatment plan parameters comprise one or more of: a number of beams, one or more beam angles, a dose per beam, beamlet weights, one or more segment or control point shapes, one or more segment or control point weights, a dose-volume histogram information, or a dose excess value.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more treatment plan parameters include defined one or more dose values for a plurality of surrounding regions, and the method comprises:
for each defined dose value for a surrounding region, determining whether the defined dose value for the surrounding region exceeds a threshold; and for each defined dose value for a surrounding region, responsive to determining that the defined dose value for the surrounding region does not exceed the threshold, increasing the defined dose value for the surrounding region, and applying the optimization procedure to the treatment plan for radiation treatment of the patient with the increased dose value for the surrounding region.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the treatment plan parameters include one or more reference dose values for a plurality of target regions, and the method comprises:
for each reference dose value for a target region, determining whether the defined dose value for the surrounding region exceeds a threshold; and for each dose value for a target region, responsive to determining that the defined dose value for the surrounding region does not exceed the threshold, increasing the defined dose value for the surrounding region, and applying the optimization procedure to the treatment plan for radiation treatment plan of the patient with the increased dose value for the surrounding region.

12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the threshold is a function of the dose value for the target region.

13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the threshold is selected from amongst a plurality of thresholds, each threshold being associated with a corresponding cost function used for the optimization procedure.

14 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more treatment plan parameters include at least one medical image of a patient comprising the target region and the surrounding region.

15 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
accepting user input into a graphical user interface, the user input comprising the dose value for the target region and the defined dose value for the surrounding region.

16 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
outputting one or more parameter values corresponding to the treatment plan, wherein the parameter values comprise one or more of: a number of beams, one or more beam angles, a dose per beam, one or more beamlet weights, one or more segment or control point shapes, one or more segment or control point weights, a dose-volume histogram information, or a dose excess value.

17 . A data processing apparatus comprising:
a memory storing computer-executable instructions; and a processor configured to execute the instructions to:
receive one or more treatment plan parameters including a reference dose value for a target region of a patient and a defined dose value for a surrounding region;
determine whether the defined dose value for the surrounding region exceeds a threshold; and
responsive to determining that the defined dose value for the surrounding region does not exceed the threshold, increase the defined dose value for the surrounding region to the threshold, and apply an optimization procedure to a treatment plan for radiation treatment of the patient with the increased dose value for the surrounding region.

18 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:
receive one or more treatment plan parameters including a reference dose value for a target region of a patient and a defined dose value for a surrounding region; determine whether the defined dose value for the surrounding region exceeds a threshold; and responsive to determining that the defined dose value for the surrounding region does not exceed the threshold, increase the defined dose value for the surrounding region to the threshold, and apply an optimization procedure to a treatment plan for radiation treatment of the patient with the increased dose value for the surrounding region.

19 . A computer-implemented method for radiation treatment planning, the method comprising:
receiving one or more treatment plan parameters including a reference dose value for a target region of a patient and a defined dose value for a surrounding region; determining whether the defined dose value for the surrounding region exceeds a threshold; and responsive to determining that the defined dose value for the surrounding region does not exceed the threshold, modifying the defined dose value for the surrounding region, and applying an optimization procedure to a treatment plan for radiation treatment of the patient with the modified dose value for the surrounding region, wherein the optimization procedure reduces a serial cost function which is representative of dose excess value in the surrounding region and/or the target region.

Assignees

• Elekta Inc

Inventors

• Voet Peter
• Men Chunhua
• Marshall Spencer

Classifications

• A61N2005/1074

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

• G16H20/40 Primary

  relating to mechanical, radiation or invasive therapies, e.g. surgery, laser therapy, dialysis or acupuncture · CPC title

• A61N5/1031 Primary

  using a specific method of dose optimization · CPC title