US 12,239,850 B2
Generating time-efficient treatment field trajectories for external-beam radiation treatments
Santtu Ollila, Helsinki (FI); Mikko Vainio, Espoo (FI); Jarkko Peltola, Tuusula (FI); Janne Nord, Espoo (FI); Esa Kuusela, Espoo (FI); Juha Kauppinen, Espoo (FI); Viljo Petäjä, Espoo (FI); and Marko Rusanen, Espoo (FI)
Assigned to Siemens Healthineers International AG, Steinhausen (CH)
Filed by Varian Medical Systems International AG, Steinhausen (CH)
Filed on Feb. 23, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/678,415.
Application 16/356,804 is a division of application No. 15/269,870, filed on Sep. 19, 2016, granted, now 10,272,264, issued on Apr. 30, 2019.
Application 17/678,415 is a continuation of application No. 16/356,804, filed on Mar. 18, 2019, granted, now 11,285,339.
Prior Publication US 2022/0176160 A1, Jun. 9, 2022
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. A61N 5/10 (2006.01)
CPC A61N 5/1042 (2013.01) [A61N 5/1031 (2013.01); A61N 5/1039 (2013.01); A61N 5/1045 (2013.01); A61N 5/1047 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A computer-implemented method of determining a treatment field trajectory for delivering a desired dose of radiation to a treatment volume within a patient using an external-beam radiation treatment system, the method comprising:
receiving a radiation treatment plan, the radiation treatment plan including a plurality of treatment fields, each of the plurality of treatment fields having a respective set of values for treatment axes of the external-beam radiation treatment system;
identifying, using a computer system, a plurality of candidate treatment trajectories by analyzing the respective set of values for the treatment axes associated with the plurality of treatment fields, each of the plurality of candidate treatment trajectories comprising a chronological order of administering the plurality of treatment fields, including interleaving the plurality of treatment fields; and
for each of the plurality of candidate treatment trajectories:
determining, using the computer system, a total treatment time including beam-on time when radiation dose is being delivered and beam-off time during transitioning of the treatment axes between consecutive treatment fields;
selecting, using the computer system, an optimal treatment field trajectory among the plurality of candidate treatment trajectories to achieve an optimal total treatment time; and
updating the radiation treatment plan using the optimal treatment field trajectory, wherein the radiation treatment plan is to be used by the external-beam radiation treatment system for delivering the desired dose of radiation.