Radiation treatment planning and delivery using collision free regions

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018243584-A1
Application number	US-201715441898-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Feb 24, 2017
Priority date	Feb 24, 2017
Publication date	Aug 30, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

Collision free regions are predetermined for one or more class solutions. Each class solution has defined limits for allowed field geometry variations. Collision free regions in planning can be defined as a set of allowed isocenter positions relative to a fixation device. The collision free regions may be visualized by a user to plan for field geometry and isocenter position tradeoffs. Collision free regions in delivery can be defined as a set of allowed couch support coordinates. The treatment fields in a radiation treatment plan can be checked against the collision free regions in delivery to determine whether they will pose any collision risks.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method of determining a radiation treatment plan for delivering radiation to a patient using an external-beam radiation treatment system, the method comprising:
receiving, by a computer system, one or more class solutions, wherein each class solution includes field geometry limits for one or more treatment axes of the external-beam radiation treatment system and a corresponding collision free region, and wherein the collision free region comprises a three-dimensional space for allowed initial isocenter positions determined based on a delivery machine model and a patient model; receiving, by the computer system, a three-dimensional image of the patient; aligning the three-dimensional image of the patient with the collision free regions of the one or more class solutions; receiving, via a user interface, a desired initial isocenter position; determining, by the computer system, that the desired initial isocenter position is within at least one collision free region of the one or more class solutions; identifying, by the computer system, one or more treatment fields within the field geometry limits of a class solution corresponding to the at least one collision free region; and determining, by the computer system, the radiation treatment plan using the one or more identified treatment fields.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising displaying on the user interface of the computer system the collision free regions of the one or more class solutions and the three-dimensional image of the patient.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the three-dimensional image of the patient includes image of one or more target volumes within a treatment area of the patient.

4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the desired isocenter position is input by a user using an input device of the user interface.

5 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the desired isocenter position is calculated based on a center of mass of the one or more target volumes or based on a geometrical center point of a smallest box that contains the one or more target volumes.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein:
each class solution includes one or more predetermined treatment fields; determining that the desired isocenter position is within at least one collision free region comprises determining that the desired isocenter position is within a plurality of collision free regions corresponding to a plurality of class solutions; and identifying one or more treatment fields comprises selecting a class solution that includes most predetermined treatment fields among the plurality of class solutions, wherein the one or more identified treatment fields include the predetermined treatment fields of the selected class solution.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the collision free regions are defined relative to a model fixation device; the three-dimensional image of the patient is acquired as the patient is fixed to a fixation device, the three-dimensional image including image of the fixation device; and the model fixation device is aligned with the image of the fixation device in the display of the collision free regions and the three-dimensional image of the patient.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the patient model comprises a statistical patient model.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the radiation treatment plan includes a control-point sequence and a multileaf collimator (MLC) leaf sequence based on the identified one or more treatment fields, and the method further comprising:
transmitting the radiation treatment plan to control circuitry of the external-beam radiation treatment system to cause the external-beam radiation treatment system to deliver the radiation to the patient according to the control-point sequence and the multileaf collimator (MLC) leaf sequence of the radiation treatment plan.

10 . A method of determining a radiation treatment plan for delivering radiation to a patient using an external-beam radiation treatment system, the method comprising:
receiving, by a computer system, one or more class solutions, wherein each class solution includes field geometry limits for one or more treatment axes of the external-beam radiation treatment system and a corresponding collision free region, and wherein the collision free region comprises a three-dimensional space for allowed initial isocenter positions determined based on a model of a delivery machine and a patient model; receiving, by the computer system, a three-dimensional image of the patient; aligning the three-dimensional image of the patient with the collision free regions of the one or more class solutions; receiving, via a user interface, a desired initial isocenter position; receiving, on the user interface, a user selection of one or more treatment fields of the one or more class solutions; determining that the desired initial isocenter position is within at least one of the collision free regions; identifying a subset of the one or more user-selected treatment fields that are within field geometry limits of a class solution corresponding to the at least one of the collision free regions; and determining the radiation treatment plan using the subset of the one or more user-selected treatment fields.

11 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising displaying on the user interface of the computer system the collision free regions of the one or more class solutions and the three-dimensional image of the patient.

12 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the subset of the one or more user-selected treatment fields includes all of the one or more user-selected treatment fields.

13 . The method of claim 10 , wherein identifying the subset of the one or more selected treatment fields comprises:
for each respective treatment field of the one or more user-selected treatment fields, determining whether the respective treatment field is within the field geometry limits of the class solution corresponding to the at least one of the collision free regions; upon determining that the respective treatment field is outside the field geometry limits of the class solution corresponding to the at least one of the collision free regions, excluding the respective treatment field from the subset of the one or more user-selected treatment fields; and upon determining that the respective treatment field is within the field geometry limits of the class solution corresponding to the at least one of the collision free regions, including the respective treatment field in the subset of the one or more user-selected treatment fields.

14 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the method further comprising:
upon determining that at least one of the one or more user-selected treatment fields is outside the field geometry limits of the class solution corresponding to the at least one of the collision free regions, moving the desired isocenter position to a new isocenter position, wherein the new isocenter position is within another collision free region, and wherein all of the one or more user-selected treatment fields are within field geometry limits of a class solution corresponding to the another collision free region.

15 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the desired isocenter position is input by a user using an input device of the user interface.

16 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the desired isocenter position is calculated based on a center of mass of the one or more target volumes or based on a geometrical center point of a smallest box that contains the one or more target volumes.

17 . A

Assignees

• Varian Medical Systems Int Ag

Inventors

• Nord Janne
• Pyyry Joakim
• Harrington Adam
• Herries Sean
• Schumm Joseph
• Filiberti Reto
• Jyrkkälä Kari
• Spiessens Sylvie
• Meier Roland
• Gasser Dominique

Classifications

• A61N5/1048

  Monitoring, verifying, controlling systems and methods · CPC title

• A61N5/1036

  Leaf sequencing algorithms · CPC title

• A61N5/103 Primary

  Treatment planning systems · CPC title

• A61N5/1081

  Rotating beam systems with a specific mechanical construction, e.g. gantries · CPC title

• A61N5/1039 Primary

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