US-20260124467-A1 - ELECTRONIC PORTAL IMAGING DEVICE PREDICTION METHOD AND APPARATUS

US20260124467A1US 20260124467 A1US20260124467 A1US 20260124467A1US-20260124467-A1

Abstract

A control circuit may, before administering therapeutic radiation to a particular patient using a particular radiation treatment apparatus with an optimized radiation treatment plan, access an electronic portal imaging device prediction neural network that was trained with a plurality of training items each comprising information regarding a previous radiation treatment plan and corresponding electronic portal imaging device signal information and then input information regarding the optimized radiation treatment plan to the electronic portal imaging device prediction neural network and output a corresponding predicted electronic portal imaging device signal.

Inventors

Ari Harju

Assignees

SIEMENS HEALTHINEERS INTERNATIONAL AG

Dates

Publication Date: 20260507
Application Date: 20241105

Claims (19)

1 . A method comprising: by a control circuit: before administering therapeutic radiation to a particular patient using a particular radiation treatment apparatus with an optimized radiation treatment plan: accessing an electronic portal imaging device prediction neural network that was trained with a plurality of training items each comprising information regarding a previous radiation treatment plan and corresponding electronic portal imaging device signal information; inputting information regarding the optimized radiation treatment plan to the electronic portal imaging device prediction neural network and outputting a corresponding predicted electronic portal imaging device signal.
2 . The method of claim 1 wherein the information regarding a previous radiation treatment plan comprises physical parameter settings for the particular radiation treatment apparatus corresponding to previously-administered radiation treatment plans.
3 . The method of claim 1 wherein the information regarding the corresponding electronic portal imaging device signal information comprises historical information corresponding to previously-administered radiation treatment plans.
4 . The method of claim 1 wherein the information regarding the corresponding electronic portal imaging device signal information comprises information calculated as a function of a corresponding previous radiation treatment plan.
5 . The method of claim 1 further comprising: facilitating a comparison of the corresponding predicted electronic portal imaging device signal with a reference electronic portal imaging device signal.
6 . The method of claim 5 wherein the reference electronic portal imaging device signal corresponds to an electronic portal imaging device signal for the optimized radiation treatment plan.
7 . The method of claim 5 further comprising: when the comparison of the corresponding predicted electronic portal imaging device signal with the reference electronic portal imaging device signal is acceptable, administering the therapeutic radiation to the particular patient using the particular radiation treatment apparatus with the optimized radiation treatment plan.
8 . A method comprising: providing a training corpus comprising a plurality of training items that each comprise information regarding a radiation treatment plan and corresponding electronic portal imaging device signal information; training a neural network using the training corpus to provide an electronic portal imaging device prediction neural network.
9 . The method of claim 8 wherein the plurality of training items that each comprise information regarding a radiation treatment plan comprises a plurality of training items that each comprise information regarding a previously-administered radiation treatment plan.
10 . The method of claim 9 wherein the corresponding electronic portal imaging device signal information comprises real-world signal information generated by a corresponding previously-administered radiation treatment plan.
11 . The method of claim 9 wherein the corresponding electronic portal imaging device signal information comprises calculated signal information generated with respect to a corresponding previously-administered radiation treatment plan.
12 . The method of claim 8 wherein the plurality of training items that each comprise information regarding a radiation treatment plan comprises a plurality of training items that each comprise information regarding a not-previously-administered radiation treatment plan.
13 . The method of claim 12 wherein the corresponding electronic portal imaging device signal information comprises calculated signal information generated with respect to a corresponding not-previously-administered radiation treatment plan.
14 . An apparatus comprising: a control circuit configured to, before therapeutic radiation is administered to a particular patient using a particular radiation treatment apparatus with an optimized radiation treatment plan: access an electronic portal imaging device prediction neural network that was trained with a plurality of training items each comprising information regarding a previous radiation treatment plan and corresponding electronic portal imaging device signal information; input information regarding the optimized radiation treatment plan to the electronic portal imaging device prediction neural network and outputting a corresponding predicted electronic portal imaging device signal.
15 . The apparatus of claim 14 wherein the information regarding a previous radiation treatment plan comprises physical parameter settings for the particular radiation treatment apparatus corresponding to previously-administered radiation treatment plans.
16 . The apparatus of claim 14 wherein the information regarding the corresponding electronic portal imaging device signal information comprises historical information corresponding to previously-administered radiation treatment plans.
17 . The apparatus of claim 14 wherein the information regarding the corresponding electronic portal imaging device signal information comprises information calculated as a function of a corresponding previous radiation treatment plan.
18 . The apparatus of claim 14 wherein the control circuit is further configured to: facilitate a comparison of the corresponding predicted electronic portal imaging device signal with a reference electronic portal imaging device signal.
19 . The apparatus of claim 18 wherein the reference electronic portal imaging device signal corresponds to an electronic portal imaging device signal for the optimized radiation treatment plan.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD These teachings relate generally to treating a patient's planning target volume with energy pursuant to an energy-based treatment plan. BACKGROUND The use of energy to treat medical conditions comprises a known area of prior art endeavor. For example, radiation therapy comprises an important component of many treatment plans for reducing or eliminating unwanted tumors. Unfortunately, applied energy does not inherently discriminate between unwanted material and adjacent tissues, organs, or the like that are desired or even critical to continued survival of the patient. As a result, energy such as radiation is ordinarily applied in a carefully administered manner to at least attempt to restrict the energy to a given target volume. A so-called radiation treatment plan often serves in the foregoing regards. A radiation treatment plan typically comprises specified values for each of a variety of treatment-apparatus parameters during each of a plurality of sequential fields. Treatment plans for radiation treatment sessions are often automatically generated through a so-called optimization process. As used herein, “optimization” will be understood to refer to improving a candidate treatment plan without necessarily ensuring that the optimized result is, in fact, the singular best solution. Such optimization often includes automatically adjusting one or more physical treatment parameters (often while observing one or more corresponding limits in these regards) and mathematically calculating a likely corresponding treatment result (such as a level of dosing) to identify a given set of treatment parameters that represent a good compromise between the desired therapeutic result and avoidance of undesired collateral effects. Electronic portal imaging devices are digital imaging systems used in radiation therapy to verify the position and alignment of the therapeutic beam with respect to the patient's anatomy, typically in real-time. Electronic portal imaging devices are also sometimes used to support plan verification. In that case, there is nothing in the beamline by way of patient or phantom object. Mounted on the linear accelerator, the electronic portal imaging device captures high-resolution images of the treatment area by detecting the radiation that passes through the patient during treatment. These images can then be compared with reference images to help ensure that the radiation is being delivered accurately to the target while minimizing exposure to surrounding healthy tissue. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS Various needs are at least partially met through provision of the described in the following detailed description, particularly when studied in conjunction with the drawings, wherein: FIG. 1 comprises a block diagram as configured in accordance with various embodiments of these teachings; FIG. 2 comprises a flow diagram as configured in accordance with various embodiments of these teachings; and FIG. 3 comprises a flow diagram as configured in accordance with various embodiments of these teachings. Elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions and/or relative positioning of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various embodiments of the present teachings. Also, common but well-understood elements that are useful or necessary in a commercially feasible embodiment are often not depicted in order to facilitate a less obstructed view of these various embodiments of the present teachings. The terms and expressions used herein have the ordinary technical meaning as is accorded to such terms and expressions by persons skilled in the technical field as set forth above except where different specific meanings have otherwise been set forth herein. The word “or” when used herein shall be interpreted as having a disjunctive construction rather than a conjunctive construction unless otherwise specifically indicated. DETAILED DESCRIPTION Generally speaking, these various embodiments include actions taken before administering therapeutic radiation to a particular patient using a particular radiation treatment apparatus with an optimized radiation treatment plan. By one approach, a control circuit accesses an electronic portal imaging device prediction neural network that was trained with a plurality of training items each comprising information regarding a previous radiation treatment plan and corresponding electronic portal imaging device signal information and then inputs information regarding the optimized radiation treatment plan to the electronic portal imaging device prediction neural network which then outputs a corresponding predicted electronic portal imaging device signal. By one approach, the aforementioned information regarding a previous radiation treatment plan can comprise physical parameter settings for the particula