Automatic creation and selection of dose prediction models for treatment plans
Granted: November 28, 2017
Patent Number:
9827445
A dose prediction model can be determined for generating a dose distribution of a treatment plan for irradiating a target structure within a patient. Treatment plans from previous patients can be analyzed to determine D characteristic values to obtain a D dimensional point for each treatment plan. The treatment plans can be clustered based on the D dimensional points. The treatment plans of a cluster can then be used to determine a dose prediction model. A dose prediction model for…
Apparatus and method pertaining to movement compensation during radiation treatment
Granted: November 14, 2017
Patent Number:
9814908
A control circuit controls real-time administration of a radiation-treatment plan that administers a therapeutic radiation dose to a patient. This includes compensating for a first movement as regards the application setting using a first treatment-administration modality and responding to detection of a second movement by using a second treatment-administration modality that is different from the first treatment-administration modality.
Proton therapy multi-leaf collimator beam shaping
Granted: October 24, 2017
Patent Number:
9795805
System and method for shaping the intensity profile of a radiation beam incident on a target volume. Embodiments according to the present disclosure include a multi-leaf collimator (MLC) capable of sharpening (e.g., “trimming”) a proton beam, the MLC having a reduced overall weight. Leaves of the MLC according to embodiments of the present disclosure have two regions of different density, where a high density region is proximal to a radiation beam so as to block a portion of the…
System and method for in-layer synchronization for fast spot rescanning
Granted: October 17, 2017
Patent Number:
9789342
To overcome the difficulties inherent in conventional proton therapy systems, new techniques are described herein for synchronizing the application of proton radiation with the periodic movement of a target area. In an embodiment, a method is provided that combines multiple rescans of a spot scanning proton beam while monitoring the periodic motion of the target area, and aligning the applications of the proton beam with parameters of the periodic motion. For example, the direction(s)…
Methods and apparatus for the planning and delivery of radiation treatments
Granted: October 17, 2017
Patent Number:
9788783
Methods and apparatus are provided for planning and delivering radiation treatments by modalities which involve moving a radiation source along a trajectory relative to a subject while delivering radiation to the subject. In some embodiments the radiation source is moved continuously along the trajectory while in some embodiments the radiation source is moved intermittently. Some embodiments involve the optimization of the radiation delivery plan to meet various optimization goals while…
System and methods for processing images to measure collimator jaw and collimator performance
Granted: October 3, 2017
Patent Number:
9776018
Systems and methods are proposed for accurate and efficient automatic measurement of jaw and leaf positioning in multi-leaf collimator imaging systems. Specifically, the method enables the automated and objective processing of images to determine characteristics of collimator jaws and MLC leaves. These novel techniques enable verification of collimator component positioning to ensure accurate beam modulation for radiation application procedures.
Systems and methods for detecting camera defect caused by exposure to radiation
Granted: September 26, 2017
Patent Number:
9773318
A method of detecting camera defect includes: obtaining an image by a processing unit, the processing unit having a surface fit module, a subtraction module, and a peak quantification module; determining a first autocorrelation map for a first sub-region in the image; determining, using the surface fit module, a first surface fit for first scene content in the first sub-region; subtracting, using the subtraction module, the first surface fit from the first autocorrelation map for the…
Methods and apparatus for the planning and delivery of radiation treatments
Granted: September 19, 2017
Patent Number:
9764159
Methods for delivering radiation dose to a target area within a subject comprise: defining a trajectory comprising relative movement between a treatment radiation source and the subject and determining a radiation delivery plan; and, while effecting relative movement between the treatment radiation source and the subject along the trajectory, delivering a treatment radiation beam from the treatment radiation source to the subject according to the radiation delivery plan to impart a dose…
Method and device for efficiently irradiating a target from multiple irradiation angles in a particle therapy system
Granted: September 19, 2017
Patent Number:
9764163
A control system is described which provides a user interface that displays a clear graphical representation of relevant data for a particle radiation therapy system (such as a pencil-beam proton therapy system) for treating multiple beam fields as efficiently as possible. The user interface allows a user to visualize a treatment session, select one or multiple beam fields to include in one or more beam applications, and dissociate beam fields previously grouped if necessary. Further…
Image comparison tool tolerant to deformable image matching
Granted: September 19, 2017
Patent Number:
9767380
An apparatus and method for determining an image similarity based on image features. In one aspect, the image similarity determination is based on an image comparison tool. The image comparison tool may be trained, by a machine-learning system, to estimate a similarity between images based on a subset of image data comprised by image features. The estimate may be an estimate of how similar structures found in the images would be following a geometric transformation of some of the…
Radiation systems with minimal or no shielding requirement on building
Granted: September 12, 2017
Patent Number:
9757593
A radiation system includes: a first support; a first structure rotatably coupled to the first support so that the first structure is rotatable about a first axis relative to the first support; a second structure rotatably coupled to the first structure so that the second structure is rotatable about a second axis that forms a non-zero angle relative to the first structure; and a first radiation source connected to the second structure; wherein the first structure and the second…
Beam current variation system for a cyclotron
Granted: September 12, 2017
Patent Number:
9763315
Beam current variation system for a cyclotron, arranged in the inner center of the cyclotron, downstream from the ion source generating the charged particle beam, the system comprising a deflector system powered by a voltage and a collimator. The beam is dumped in the collimator, if the deflector system (10; 20, 21) is not powered, and the beam is switched on by powering the deflector system with a voltage.
Low-power imager with autosensing function
Granted: September 12, 2017
Patent Number:
9762828
An imager includes a flat panel configured to collect charges when the imager operates in a full-power charge integration mode. The imager switches to a low-power standby mode immediately after each image acquisition in the full-power charge integration mode. Bias current flowing through the flat panel is monitored in the standby mode. The imager switches to the full-power charge integration mode when detecting a change in the bias current indicating onset of an X-ray exposure.
Compact proton therapy system with energy selection onboard a rotatable gantry
Granted: September 12, 2017
Patent Number:
9757592
Systems and apparatuses for providing particle beams for radiation therapy with a compact design and suitable to a single treatment room. The radiation system comprises a stationary cyclotron coupled to a rotating gantry assembly through a beam line assembly. The system is equipped with a single set of dipole magnets that are installed on the rotating gantry assembly and undertakes the dual functions of beam energy selection and beam deflection. The energy degrader may be exposed to the…
Radiation therapy treatment plan improvement through use of a knowledge base
Granted: September 12, 2017
Patent Number:
9757589
A method for determining a radiation therapy dose distribution includes selecting a treatment type from a database. An organ at risk (OAR) distance to target map is determined. The OAR distance to target map includes distances to a target organ for respective portions of an OAR, and the OAR distances are determined from a segmented patient organ image. A cohort average dose distance to target histogram is selected from the database. Dose values to the portions of the OAR are assigned to…
Method and apparatus pertaining to the optimization of radiation-treatment plans using automatic changes to treatment objectives
Granted: August 15, 2017
Patent Number:
9731147
Optimization of a radiation-delivery treatment plan can be facilitated by permitting the making of automatic changes to one or more treatment objectives. This can comprise processing radiation-delivery treatment plan parameters with respect to one or more predetermined treatment objectives and then automatically changing that predetermined treatment objective to provide one or more changed treatment objectives (including altered, deleted, and/or added treatment objectives) that can then…
Knowledge-based automatic image segmentation
Granted: August 8, 2017
Patent Number:
9727975
A method for medical image segmentation includes accessing and updating a knowledge-base. A medical image is received and a sparse landmark signature is computed based on the medical image. Either a representative or a cohort average reference image set is selected. A portion of either representative reference image set or the cohort average reference image set is deformed to generate mappings to the medical image set. A segmentation for each structure of interest of the medical image…
Method and apparatus to provide corrections for a radiation-therapy beam
Granted: August 8, 2017
Patent Number:
9726477
Information is provided regarding a block's sectional contour in a particular plane as corresponds to a radiation-therapy beam. For a point at which block effects are to be assessed, a point is projected onto a plane of the block and a plurality of straight lines is then formed. Each line has a particular relationship with respect to the projected point (such as having each such line intersect all others at the projected point). Intersections amongst these straight lines and the contour…
Low-power imager with autosensing function
Granted: July 11, 2017
Patent Number:
9706146
An imager includes a flat panel configured to collect charges when the imager operates in a full-power charge integration mode. The imager switches to a low-power standby mode immediately after each image acquisition in the full-power charge integration mode. Bias current flowing through the flat panel is monitored in the standby mode. The imager switches to the full-power charge integration mode when detecting a change in the bias current indicating onset of an X-ray exposure.
Methods and apparatus for the planning and delivery of radiation treatments
Granted: June 27, 2017
Patent Number:
9687675
Methods for planning delivery of radiation dose to a target region within a subject comprise: iteratively optimizing a simulated dose distribution relative to a set of one or more optimization goals comprising a desired dose distribution in the subject over a first plurality of control points located on a trajectory, the trajectory comprising relative movement between a radiation source and the subject; reaching one or more initial termination conditions, and after reaching the one or…
