Automated, data-driven treatment management system for adaptive radiotherapy workflows

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9764162-B1
Application number	US-201414524757-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Oct 27, 2014
Priority date	Oct 28, 2013
Publication date	Sep 19, 2017
Grant date	Sep 19, 2017

Abstract

Systems and methods can include obtaining computerized physician intent data representing an initial patient care plan; creating a computerized workflow to include a course of multiple radiation therapy sessions; performing instructions on the oncology computer system to generate control parameters for a radiation therapy apparatus to provide the radiation treatment in accordance with the workflow during the course of sessions; obtaining computerized treatment data after initiating the course of sessions; processing the computerized treatment data, using the processor circuit, to determine an indication of delivery or effect of the radiation treatment during the course of sessions based on the initial patient care plan relative to the workflow; using the indication of delivery or effect of the radiation treatment to adapt the patient care plan; and managing the workflow for the patient using the adapted patient care plan as the patient proceeds through a course of sessions.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method of facilitating radiation treatment management using a computerized oncology computer system, the method comprising:
obtaining computerized physician intent data representing an initial patient care plan for a patient;
creating a computerized workflow for the patient to include a course of multiple radiation therapy sessions;
performing a plurality of computer-executable instructions on a processor circuit of the oncology computer system to generate a plurality of control parameters for a radiation therapy apparatus to provide the radiation treatment to a patient in accordance with the workflow during the course of the multiple radiation therapy sessions;
obtaining computerized treatment data after initiating the course of the multiple radiation therapy sessions;
processing the computerized treatment data, using the processor circuit, to determine an indication of effect on a patient tumor characteristic of the radiation treatment during the course of the multiple radiation therapy sessions based on the initial patient care plan relative to the workflow, including determining, based on the treatment data, an efficacy of the delivery of the radiation treatment during at least one of the multiple radiation therapy sessions, wherein the determining an efficacy of the delivery of the radiation treatment comprises: comparing the treatment data, including patient tumor characteristic data for one or more of the multiple radiation therapy sessions to data, including patient tumor characteristic data from a patient population of other patients that is stored in a database, comparing the treatment data against one or more triggers specified in the physician intent data, and generating a predictive alert and presenting it to a user based on a result of the comparison;
using the indication of effect on the patient tumor characteristic of the radiation treatment to adapt the patient care plan; and
managing the workflow for the patient using the adapted patient care plan as the patient proceeds through a course of multiple radiation therapy sessions.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein obtaining computerized Physician Intent data, comprises combining at least two of:
(1) treatment simulation data;
(2) patient imaging data;
(3) patient treatment planning information;
(4) patient motion management data;
(5) patient registration data;
(6) localization definition or frequency data;
(7) adaptive planning data; and
(8) one or more specified triggers.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein adapting the patient care plan, comprises:
using the processor circuit, processing the computerized Physician Intent data;
determining an indication of a deviation from the initial or a current patient care plan; and
adapting one or more subsequent radiation therapy sessions specified in the patient care plan based on the indication of the deviation from the initial or the current patient care plan.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 , wherein the current patient care plan has been previously adapted at least one time during the course of multiple radiation therapy sessions.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein managing a workflow for a patient based on the adapted patient care plan, comprises:
performing a plurality of computer-executable instructions on a processor circuit of the oncology computer system to process the physician intent data to manage at least one of a simulation activity, a planning adaptation activity, a motion management activity, an imaging protocol, or a localization activity, or to verify that a predetermined protocol is followed.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein using an indication of delivery or effect of the radiation treatment to adapt the patient care plan comprises adapting at least one of a treatment review schedule or treatment re-planning schedule based on the indication of delivery or effect of the radiation treatment.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 , wherein using the indication for delivery or effect of the radiation treatment to adapt the patient care plan comprises determining an actual radiation dose received by the patient for a particular radiation therapy session.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 , wherein using the indication for delivery or effect of the radiation treatment to adapt the patient care plan comprises determining an accumulated radiation dose of all dosages previously received by the patient during the course of the multiple therapy sessions.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein using an indication of delivery or effect of the radiation treatment to adapt the patient care plan during the course of the multiple radiation therapy sessions comprises adapting a patient motion management parameter based on the indication of delivery or effect of the radiation treatment.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the processing the computerized treatment data, using the processor circuit, to determine an indication of delivery or effect of the radiation treatment comprises determining an efficacy of the delivery of the radiation treatment during at least one of the multiple radiation therapy sessions.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , wherein the determining an efficacy of the delivery of the radiation treatment comprises:
comparing the treatment data for one or more of the multiple radiation therapy sessions to data from a patient population of other patients that is stored in a database;
comparing the treatment data against one or more triggers specified in the physician intent data; and
generating a predictive alert and presenting it to a user based on a result of the comparison.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11 , wherein the predictive alert includes at least one of:
a high dose or low dose alert;
a dose volume histogram (DVH) alert;
a fractional biologically effective dose (BED) alert;
a percentage or absolute volume deviation alert;
a change in tumor control probability (TCP) alert;
a normal tissue complication probability (NTCP) alert; and
a change in region of interest alert.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 11 , wherein managing a workflow for a patient comprises:
using the predictive alert to adapt the patient care plan as the patient proceeds through the course of multiple radiation therapy sessions; and
notifying a user to a change in the patient care plan.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13 , wherein notifying a user to a change in the patient care plan comprises generating at least one of a notification for a user error, a treatment error, or a treatment deviation.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , comprising:
displaying, on a computer display, a visualization of a tumor target in the patient and a visualization of a radiation dose delivered to the tumor target in the patient.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , comprising:
displaying, on a computer display, a visualization of a non-target organ at risk (OAR) and of a radiation dose delivered to the non-target OAR.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , comprising:
obtaining patient imaging data including (1) planning imaging data of the patient, (2) therapy session imaging data of the patient, or (3) rigid or deformable registration information between the planning imaging data of the patient and the therapy session imaging data of the patient.

Assignees

• Elekta Inc

Inventors

• Willcut Virgil Matthew
• Stark Richard Henry

Classifications

• A61B5/0036

  including treatment, e.g., using an implantable medical device, ablating, ventilating · CPC title

• A61B6/5288

  involving retrospective matching to a physiological signal · CPC title

• A61N2005/1055

  using magnetic resonance imaging [MRI] · CPC title

• A61N5/1038

  taking into account previously administered plans applied to the same patient, i.e. adaptive radiotherapy · CPC title

• A61B6/5223

  generating planar views from image data, e.g. extracting a coronal view from a 3D image · CPC title