CN-116209499-B - Dose and dose rate information correlation with volume for radiation treatment planning

Abstract

A method for planning a radiation treatment, accessing (802) information comprising a calculated dose and a calculated dose rate for a sub-volume in a treatment target, and also accessing (804) information comprising metric values of the sub-volume as a function of the calculated dose and the calculated dose rate. The graphical user interface includes a rendering based on the calculated dose, the calculated dose rate, and the metric value (806).

Inventors

• P. Lansonell
• A. Harrington
• E. Abel
• L. Halk
• P. Nemeray
• 5. Petaga
• S. Bousold
• M. ROSSI
• M. S. Roper
• M. Falketz
• J. Perez
• C. SMITH

Assignees

• 瓦里安医疗系统公司
• 西门子医疗国际股份有限公司
• 瓦里安医疗系统粒子治疗有限公司

Dates

Publication Date

20260505

Application Date

20210623

Priority Date

20200701

Claims (20)

1. 1. A computer system, comprising: A processor; a display device coupled to the processor, and A memory coupled to the processor and comprising instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to perform a method for planning radiation processing, the method comprising: Accessing information comprising a calculated dose and a calculated dose rate for a plurality of sub-volumes in a volume in a treatment target; accessing information comprising metric values of said plurality of sub-volumes as a function of said calculated dose and said calculated dose rate, and A graphical user interface GUI is displayed on the display device, the graphical user interface including representations of the calculated dose, the calculated dose rate, and the metric value in a single drawing.
2. 2. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the single rendering comprises a visualization of a dose-volume histogram as a first dimension of the GUI, a visualization of a dose-volume histogram as a second dimension of the GUI, and a visualization of the metric as a third dimension of the GUI.
3. 3. The computer system of claim 1 or 2, wherein the single rendering comprises a visualization of a calculated dose for each of the plurality of subvolumes.
4. 4. The computer system of claim 1 or 2, wherein the single rendering comprises a visualization of a calculated dose rate for each of the plurality of subvolumes.
5. 5. The computer system of claim 1 or 2, wherein the single rendering includes a visualization of the metric value for each of the plurality of subvolumes.
6. 6. The computer system of claim 1 or 2, wherein the single plot further comprises a visualization of a prescribed dose and a prescribed dose rate.
7. 7. The computer system of claim 1 or 2, wherein the GUI further comprises a visualization of normal tissue complication probabilities for each of the plurality of subvolumes.
8. 8. The computer system of claim 1 or 2, wherein the GUI further comprises a visualization of tumor control probabilities for each of the plurality of subvolumes.
9. 9. The computer system of claim 1 or 2, wherein the method further comprises: Associating attribute values to the single plotted element corresponding to the calculated dose, the calculated dose rate, and the metric value, and And displaying the element according to the attribute value.
10. 10. The computer system of claim 9, wherein the attribute values are values of an attribute selected from the group consisting of color, pattern, gray scale, alphanumeric text, and brightness.
11. 11. The computer system of any of claims 1, 2, and 10, wherein the single drawing further comprises an isodose contour and an isodose rate contour.
12. 12. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer executable instructions for causing a computer system to perform a method for planning radiation processing, the method comprising: Accessing a radiation treatment plan comprising a number of beams to be directed to a volume into a treatment target, a direction of the beams, and a dose rate range for each of the beams, wherein the volume comprises a plurality of sub-volumes; calculating a dose for each of the plurality of sub-volumes using the number and direction of the beams and the dose rate range; calculating a dose rate for each of the plurality of sub-volumes using the number and direction of the beams and the dose rate range; For different dose levels and different dose rate levels, determining a measure of the sub-volume calculated to receive at least the respective dose level and at least the respective dose rate level, and A graphical user interface GUI is displayed on a display device of the computer system, the GUI comprising a rendering of a representation of a calculated dose for each of the plurality of sub-volumes, a calculated dose rate for each of the plurality of sub-volumes, and the metric value for the sub-volume calculated to receive at least a respective dose level and at least a respective dose rate level.
13. 13. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the drawing includes a visualization of a dose-volume histogram as a first dimension of the GUI, a visualization of a dose-volume histogram as a second dimension of the GUI, and a visualization of the metric as a third dimension of the GUI.
14. 14. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 12 or 13, wherein the drawing is a single drawing.
15. 15. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 12 or 13, wherein the rendering further comprises one or more visualizations selected from the group consisting of a visualization of a prescription dose and a prescription dose rate, a visualization of a normal tissue complication probability for each of the plurality of subvolumes, and a visualization of a tumor control probability for each of the plurality of subvolumes.
16. 16. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 12 or 13, wherein the method further comprises: associating attribute values to the plotted elements corresponding to the calculated dose, the calculated dose rate, and the metric value, and And displaying the element according to the attribute value.
17. 17. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer executable instructions for causing a computer system to perform a method for planning radiation processing, the method comprising: Generating a dose-volume histogram DVH for a volume in a treatment target, wherein the DVH is indicative of a measure of the volume of received dose; generating a dose rate-volume histogram DRVH for the volume in the treatment target, wherein the DRVH is indicative of a measure of the volume receiving a dose rate, and Displaying a graphical user interface GUI on a display device of the computer system, the graphical user interface comprising a combined rendering of the DVH and the DRVH, wherein the combined rendering visualizes a measure of the volume calculated to receive a given dose as a function of dose rate, and also visualizes a measure of the volume calculated to receive a given dose rate as a function of dose.
18. 18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the GUI includes a visualization of the DVH as a first dimension of the GUI, a visualization of the DRVH as a second dimension of the GUI, and a visualization of a value of the metric as a third dimension of the GUI.
19. 19. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 17 or 18, wherein the combined rendering comprises one or more visualizations selected from the group consisting of a visualization of a calculated dose for each of a plurality of sub-volumes of the volume, a calculated dose rate for each of the plurality of sub-volumes, and a visualization of a value of the metric for each of the plurality of sub-volumes.
20. 20. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 17 or 18, wherein the combined rendering further comprises one or more visualizations selected from the group consisting of a visualization of a prescription dose and a prescription dose rate, a visualization of a normal tissue complication probability for each of a plurality of subvolumes of the volume, and a visualization of a tumor control probability for each of the plurality of subvolumes.

Description

Dose and dose rate information correlation with volume for radiation treatment planning Cross Reference to Related Applications The present application claims priority from U.S. provisional application serial No. 63/043,027, entitled "Correlation of Dose and dose rate information to Volume for radiation TREATMENT PLANNING," filed by Lansonneur et al at month 6 and 23 of 2020, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Background The use of radiation therapy to treat cancer is well known. Generally, radiation therapy involves directing a beam of energetic proton, photon, ion, or electron radiation ("therapeutic radiation") into a target or volume (e.g., a volume including a tumor or lesion) in a treatment target. Before a patient is treated with radiation, a treatment plan specific to the patient is developed. The planned usage may define various aspects of the treatment based on simulations and optimizations of past experience. Generally, the purpose of a treatment plan is to deliver sufficient radiation to unhealthy tissue while minimizing radiation exposure to surrounding healthy tissue. The objective of the planner is to find an optimal solution for a number of clinical purposes, which is contradictory in the sense that an improvement towards one purpose may have a detrimental effect on achieving another purpose. For example, treatment planning to protect the liver from a dose of radiation may result in the stomach being subjected to excessive radiation. These types of compromises result in an iterative process in which the planner creates different plans to find one that is best suited to achieve the desired result. Relatively recent radiation biology studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of delivering an entire relatively high therapeutic radiation dose to a target in a single short period of time. This type of treatment is generally referred to herein as FLASH radiation therapy (FLASH RT). Evidence to date suggests that FLASH RT advantageously protects normal healthy tissue from damage when the tissue is exposed to high radiation doses for only a short period of time. FLASH RT introduces significant interdependencies that are not captured by traditional radiation processing planning. Current tools such as dose-volume and dose rate volume histograms do not capture dose and dose rate interdependencies. For example, from a clinician's perspective, developing dose rate profiles for high quality plans is not trivial, as normal tissue may benefit from low dose rates in certain areas if the dose is minimized in those areas. Also, for example, irradiating a limited number of spots in the treatment volume may result in delivery of a high dose rate, but low dose uniformity at the tumor level, while on the other hand, the quality of the plan may be improved by increasing the number of spots at the expense of a reduced dose rate. Disclosure of Invention In one aspect, the present invention provides a computer system. In another aspect, the invention provides a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions for causing a computer system to perform a method for planning a radiation process. In another aspect, the invention provides a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions for causing a computer system to perform another method for planning a radiation treatment. Thus, according to some embodiments of the present invention, an improved method for generating and evaluating radiation treatment plans for FLASH radiation treatment (FLASH RT) and improving radiation treatment based on these plans is provided. In some embodiments, a computer-implemented method for planning a radiation treatment includes accessing information including a calculated dose and a calculated dose rate for a subvolume in a treatment target (e.g., any number of voxels in any three-dimensional shape of a volume constituting the subvolume), and also accessing information including a metric value (e.g., number, percentage, or fraction) of the subvolume as a function of the calculated dose and the calculated dose rate. A Graphical User Interface (GUI) is then displayed that includes a rendering (e.g., a visual display) based on the calculated dose, the calculated dose rate, and the metric value. In some embodiments, the rendering includes a visualization (e.g., a graphical element) of a dose-volume histogram as a first dimension of the GUI (e.g., an element or aspect of the visualization, or a spatial dimension in the virtual space), a visualization of a dose rate-volume histogram as a second dimension of the GUI, and a visualization of a metric value as a third dimension of the GUI. For example, the rendering may include a visualization of the calculated dose rate for each sub-volume, a visualization of the calculated dose for each sub-volume, and a visualization of the metric for each sub-volume. In some embodiments, the rendering further