Methods for fabricating pixelated scintillator arrays
Granted: December 4, 2018
Patent Number:
10145966
A method of making pixelated scintillator arrays employs a first jig comprising a plurality of recesses and a second jig comprising a plurality of recesses. A plurality of or N scintillator pixels are placed in a plurality of or N recesses of the first jig. The N scintillator pixels have a shape such that a portion of each of the N scintillator pixels is conformably received in one of the N recesses of the first jig, e.g. a portion of each of the N scintillator pixels is received in and…
Controlling and shaping the dose distribution outside treatment targets in external-beam radiation treatments
Granted: December 4, 2018
Patent Number:
10143859
Streamlined and partially automated methods of setting normal tissue objectives in radiation treatment planning are provided. These methods may be applied to multiple-target cases as well as single-target cases. The methods can impose one or more target-specific dose falloff constraints around each target, taking into account geometric characteristics of each target such as target volume and shape. In some embodiments, methods can also take into account a planner's preferences for target…
Method and apparatus pertaining to treating a patient using heavy particles
Granted: December 4, 2018
Patent Number:
10143856
A heavy-particle treatment system exposes a patient's treatment volume, during the course of a single treatment session, to beams of heavy particles from a variety of different angles. The source of heavy particles may rotate about the patient to facilitate that variety of different angles. The foregoing can occur pursuant to a treatment plan that accounts for a penetration range as corresponds to the beams of heavy particles and for using at least one lateral beam controlling device to…
Shielding structures for linear accelerators
Granted: November 27, 2018
Patent Number:
10143076
An apparatus includes an accelerator guide and a shielding structure enclosing the accelerator guide. The accelerator guide includes an electron source at a first end, a target at a second end, and a plurality of accelerating cavities coupled in series along a longitudinal axis between the first end and the second end. The accelerator guide has a contour as viewed in the longitudinal axis. The shielding structure has an inner wall surface defining a contour as viewed in the longitudinal…
Systems, devices, and methods for quality assurance of radiation therapy
Granted: October 30, 2018
Patent Number:
10112059
Systems, devices, and methods for quality assurance for verification of radiation dose delivery in arc-based radiation therapy devices using a 3D gamma evaluation method.
Automatic organ-dose-estimation for patient-specific computed tomography scans
Granted: October 16, 2018
Patent Number:
10098606
In accordance with at least some embodiments of the present disclosure, a process for calculating patient-specific organ dose is presented. The process may include constructing a computed tomography (CT) volume based on CT images generated by a CT scanner. The process may include segmenting the CT volume into a plurality of organ regions, generating a material density map for the CT volume based on Hounsfield Unit (HU) values, and generating a dose distribution map for the CT volume…
Methods and systems for three-dimensional visualization of deviation of volumetric structures with colored surface structures
Granted: October 9, 2018
Patent Number:
10096151
Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to methods and computer systems for converting datasets into three-dimensional (“3D”) mesh surface visualization, displaying the mesh surface on a computer display, comparing two three-dimensional mesh surface structures by blending two primary different primary colors to create a secondary color, and computing the distance between two three-dimensional mesh surface structures converted from two closely-matched datasets. For…
Dose aspects of radiation therapy planning and treatment
Granted: October 9, 2018
Patent Number:
10092774
Radiation treatment planning includes accessing values of parameters such as a number of beams to be directed into sub-volumes in a target, beam directions, and beam energies. Information that specifies limits for the radiation treatment plan are accessed. The limits include a limit on irradiation time for each sub-volume outside the target. Other limits can include a limit on irradiation time for each sub-volume in the target, a limit on dose rate for each sub-volume in the target, and…
Prospective evaluation of tumor visibility for IGRT using templates generated from planning CT and contours
Granted: October 9, 2018
Patent Number:
10092251
The plan CT is described to generate dual energy (DRR) that stimulates the treatment time radiographs in order to prospectively evaluate the angles in which issues for the template matching algorithm are present, and thus the visibility of the tumor. The present invention uses template matching to quantify the “trackability” of the target from different angles or directions. The peak-to-side lobe ratio is used to measure trackability. The results of this process influence treatment…
Printing of objects for medical use
Granted: October 2, 2018
Patent Number:
10088833
An artifact for radiation therapy is produced by accessing image data comprising images including a target volume inside a patient. A design for the artifact is generated based on the image data. The design is customized to a radiation therapy treatment plan for the patient. A printing plan is generated based on the design. A three-dimensional printer is controlled using the printing plan to build an object that corresponds to the design.
Method and apparatus pertaining to treatment plans for dynamic radiation-treatment platforms
Granted: October 2, 2018
Patent Number:
10086215
A control circuit accesses patient information and treatment-platform information and uses that information to automatically suggest a treatment plan having at least one of a given number of treatment-pathway traversals wherein the given number is permitted to be greater than one and sub-treatment-pathway traversal-based physical alterations to at least one of the dynamic elements of the dynamic radiation-treatment platform. By one approach the aforementioned patient information can…
Knowledge-based spatial dose metrics and methods to generate beam orientations in radiotherapy
Granted: September 25, 2018
Patent Number:
10080911
A system for estimating a dose from a radiation therapy plan includes a memory that stores machine-readable instructions and a processor communicatively coupled to the memory, the processor operable to execute the instructions to subdivide a representation of a volume of interest into voxels. The processor also determines distances between a planned radiation field origin and each respective voxel. The processor further computes geometry-based expected (GED) metrics based on the…
Pivoting multileaf collimator and method for large field coverage
Granted: September 11, 2018
Patent Number:
10071263
A radiation apparatus includes a source operable to generate a radiation beam, a multileaf collimator operable to shape of the radiation beam, and a pivoting mechanism configured to pivot the multileaf collimator about the source. The radiation apparatus may further include a rotating mechanism configured to rotate the multileaf collimator about an axis passing through the source and the multileaf collimator.
Method for dynamically generating an adaptive multi-resolution image from algorithms selected based on user input
Granted: August 28, 2018
Patent Number:
10062186
Methods and systems are proposed herein for generative adaptive, multi-resolution images efficiently without intensive processing and/or memory consumption or hardware requirements. According to one aspect of the claimed subject matter, a system is provided that includes a computing workstation, communicatively coupled to both a data storage device and an image acquisition device. Real time images acquired by the image acquisition device are presented to the user along with one or more…
5D cone beam CT using deformable registration
Granted: August 28, 2018
Patent Number:
10062168
An apparatus includes: an input configured to receive a plurality of images, wherein the images include respective sub-images of a bodily part of a subject, and wherein a position of the bodily part relates to a breathing movement and a cardiac movement of the subject; a first registration engine configured to determine a first registration of at least two breathing correlated images, wherein the at least two breathing correlated images comprise two of the plurality of images or are…
System and method for estimating and manipulating estimated radiation dose
Granted: August 21, 2018
Patent Number:
10052500
Methods are provided for permitting manipulation of an achievable dose distribution estimate deliverable by a radiation delivery apparatus for proposed treatment of a subject. One such method comprises: determining a dose modification voxel for which it is desired to modify the dose value and a corresponding magnitude of desired dose modification; for each of a plurality of beams: (i) characterizing the beam as a two-dimensional array of beamlets, wherein each beamlet is associated with…
Systems and methods for real-time tumor tracking
Granted: August 7, 2018
Patent Number:
10043284
Various embodiments disclose systems and methods for tracking regions (e.g., tumor locations) within living organisms. Some embodiments provide real-time, highly accurate, low latency measurements of tumor location even as the tumor moves with internal body motions. Such measurements may be suitable for closed-loop radiation delivery applications where radiation therapy may be continuously guided to the tumor site even as the tumor moves. Tumor motion may be associated with periodic…
Method and apparatus pertaining to multi-stage radiation-treatment plan optimization
Granted: August 7, 2018
Patent Number:
10039936
A control circuit employs at least two optimization stages while developing a radiation-treatment plan. During a first optimization stage the control circuit uses a first radiation-treatment plan optimization process that employs user-selected constraints to provide general plan results. During this first optimization stage the control circuit then provides one or more opportunities for a user to modify those user-selected constraints to thereby influence the general plan results.…
System for dynamically propagating real-time alterations of medical images
Granted: July 24, 2018
Patent Number:
10032316
Embodiments of the present invention are directed to methods and a mechanism for manipulating images generated by radiotherapy machines used in radiation diagnostic and treatment applications. In one embodiment, a method is provided for intelligent automatic propagation of real-time alterations across graphical structures of an image by mapping the relativity between the structures; determining the correlation between the structures and a manually edited structure; referencing a…
Systems, methods, and devices for radiation beam alignment and radiation beam measurements using electronic portal imaging devices
Granted: July 17, 2018
Patent Number:
10022564
Systems and methods for using electronic portal imaging devices (EPIDs) as absolute radiation beam measuring devices and as radiation beam alignment devices without implementation of elaborate and complex calibration procedures.
