System and method for radiation treatment planning

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12582840-B2
Application number	US-202318315961-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 11, 2023
Priority date	May 11, 2023
Publication date	Mar 24, 2026
Grant date	Mar 24, 2026

Abstract

A method for radiation treatment planning for delivering radiation therapy by a radiotherapy system, the method comprising: receiving a reference objective, the reference objective representing a goal to be achieved by the radiotherapy system; performing an optimisation procedure, according to the received reference objective, to determine a set of parameters, the set of parameters relating to characteristics of radiation to be delivered by the radiotherapy system, wherein the optimisation procedure comprises: optimising the set of parameters to obtain an achieved value, and responsive to the achieved value not meeting the reference objective, obtaining a relaxed objective using the achieved value and a relaxation value, and determining a configuration of the radiotherapy system using the optimised set of parameters and the relaxed objective.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method for radiation treatment planning for delivering radiation therapy by a radiotherapy system, the method comprising:
receiving a reference objective, the reference objective representing a goal to be achieved by the radiotherapy system; performing an optimization procedure, according to the received reference objective, to determine a set of parameters, the set of parameters relating to characteristics of radiation to be delivered by the radiotherapy system, wherein the optimization procedure comprises: optimizing the set of parameters to obtain an achieved value; responsive to the achieved value not meeting the reference objective, obtaining a relaxed objective using the achieved value and a relaxation value, and setting the relaxed objective as a constraint; and determining a configuration of the radiotherapy system using the optimized set of parameters and the relaxed objective as a constraint.

2 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:
responsive to the achieved value meeting the reference objective, determining a configuration of the radiotherapy system using the optimized set of parameters and the reference objective.

3 . The method of claim 1 wherein performing the optimization procedure comprises:
performing a first pass optimization, the first pass optimization comprising:
optimizing the set of parameters to obtain a first pass achieved value;
responsive to the first pass achieved value not meeting the reference objective, obtaining a first pass relaxed objective using the first pass achieved value and a first pass relaxation value; and
determining a configuration of the radiotherapy system using the optimized set of parameters and the first pass relaxed objective.

4 . The method of claim 3 wherein performing the optimization procedure further comprises:
performing a second pass optimization, the second pass optimization comprising:
responsive to the first pass achieved value meeting the reference objective, further optimizing the set of parameters, according to the received reference objective, to obtain a second pass achieved value;
obtaining a second pass relaxed treatment-planning objective using the second pass achieved value and a second pass relaxation value; and
determining a configuration of the radiotherapy system using the further optimized set of parameters and the second pass relaxed treatment-planning objective.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein determining a configuration of the radiotherapy system using the further optimized set of parameters and the second pass relaxed treatment-planning objective comprises:
performing a further optimization procedure using the second pass relaxed treatment-planning objective as an objective or a constraint.

6 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the second pass relaxation value is smaller than the first pass relaxation value.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the set of parameters is related to a fluence pattern of the radiation to be delivered.

8 . The method of claim 7 wherein the set of parameters comprises a weight of beamlets.

9 . The method of claim 1 wherein determining a configuration of the radiotherapy system comprises determining an arrangement of a beam shaping apparatus.

10 . The method of claim 9 wherein the beam shaping apparatus is a multileaf collimator (MLC).

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the relaxation value is automatically set according to a cost function.

12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the reference objective comprises any of a cost function, a reference dose, and/or a reference volume.

13 . The method of claim 12 wherein, when the reference objective comprises a reference dose, the cost function comprises any of: a maximum dose cost function, a mean dose cost function, a serial cost function, and/or an equivalent uniform dose (EUD) cost function.

14 . The method of claim 12 wherein, when the reference objective comprises a reference volume, the cost function comprises any of: a Dose Volume Histogram (DVH) based cost function, a Target Penalty cost function or a Parallel cost function.

15 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the reference objective relates to any one or more of: a region of interest, a shell, a planned target volume (PTV), a critical structure, and an organ at risk.

16 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the relaxation value is determined relative to the achieved value and further bounded by a lower value and an upper value.

17 . A treatment planning system for delivering radiation therapy by a radiotherapy apparatus, the treatment planning system comprising a processor configured to:
receive a reference objective, the reference objective representing a goal to be achieved by the radiotherapy apparatus; perform optimization, according to the received reference objective, to determine a set of parameters, the set of parameters relating to characteristics of radiation to be delivered by the radiotherapy apparatus, wherein performing optimization comprises:
optimizing the set of parameters to obtain an achieved value;
responsive to the achieved value not meeting the reference objective, obtaining a relaxed objective using the achieved value and a relaxation value, and setting the relaxed objective as a constraint; and
determine a configuration of the radiotherapy apparatus using the optimized set of parameters and the relaxed objective as a constraint.

18 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions configured to cause a processor to:
receive a reference objective, the reference objective representing a goal to be achieved by a radiotherapy system; and perform an optimization, according to the received reference objective, to determine a set of parameters, the set of parameters relating to characteristics of radiation to be delivered by the radiotherapy system, wherein performing the optimization comprises:
optimizing the set of parameters to obtain an achieved value;
responsive to the achieved value not meeting the reference objective, obtaining a relaxed objective using the achieved value and a relaxation value, and setting the relaxed objective as a constraint; and
determine a configuration of the radiotherapy system using the optimized set of parameters and the relaxed objective as a constraint.

Assignees

• Elekta Inc

Inventors

• Voet Peter
• Men Chunhua
• Marshall Spencer

Classifications

• A61N2005/1034

  Monte Carlo type methods; particle tracking · CPC title

• A61N5/1045

  using a multi-leaf collimator, e.g. for intensity modulated radiation therapy or IMRT · CPC title

• A61N5/1031 Primary

  using a specific method of dose optimization · CPC title

• A61N2005/1089

  Electrons · CPC title

• A61N2005/1087

  Ions; Protons · CPC title