Bechtel Bwxt Idaho, Lcc

Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC

Lockheed Martin Idaho Technologies Company

Daniel E Wessol

Floyd J Wheeler

Jeremy L Cook

Michael Frandsen

David W Nigg

Michael W Frandsen

Methods and computer readable media are disclosed for ultimately developing a dosimetry plan for a treatment volume irradiated during radiation therapy with a radiation source concentrated internally within a patient or incident from an external beam. The dosimetry plan is available in near 'real-time' because of the novel geometric model construction of the treatment volume which in turn allows for rapid calculations to be performed for simulated movements of particles along particle tracks therethrough. The particles are exemplary representations of alpha, beta or gamma emissions emanating from an internal radiation source during various radiotherapies, such as brachytherapy or targeted radionuclide therapy, or they are exemplary representations of high-energy photons, electrons, protons or other ionizing particles incident on the treatment volume from an external source. In a preferred embodiment, a medical image of a treatment volume irradiated during radiotherapy having a plurality of pixels of information is obtained.

Methods and computer readable medium for improved radiotherapy dosimetry planning

Methods and computer executable instructions are disclosed for ultimately developing a dosimetry plan for a treatment volume targeted for irradiation during cancer therapy. The dosimetry plan is available in &ldquo;real-time&rdquo; which especially enhances clinical use for in vivo applications. The real-time is achieved because of the novel geometric model constructed for the planned treatment volume which, in turn, allows for rapid calculations to be performed for simulated movements of particles along particle tracks there through. The particles are exemplary representations of neutrons emanating from a neutron source during BNCT. In a preferred embodiment, a medical image having a plurality of pixels of information representative of a treatment volume is obtained. The pixels are: (i) converted into a plurality of substantially uniform volume elements having substantially the same shape and volume of the pixels; and (ii) arranged into a geometric model of the treatment volume. An anatomical material associated with each uniform volume element is defined and stored. Thereafter, a movement of a particle along a particle track is defined through the geometric model along a primary direction of movement that begins in a starting element of the uniform volume elements and traverses to a next element of the uniform volume elements. The particle movement along the particle track is effectuated in integer based increments along the primary direction of movement until a position of intersection occurs that represents a condition where the anatomical material of the next element is substantially different from the anatomical material of the starting element. This position of intersection is then useful for indicating whether a neutron has been captured, scattered or exited from the geometric model. From this intersection, a distribution of radiation doses can be computed for use in the cancer therapy. The foregoing represents an advance in computational times by multiple factors of time magnitudes.

Methods and computer executable instructions for rapidly calculating simulated particle transport through geometrically modeled treatment volumes having uniform volume elements for use in radiotherapy

A system for displaying an accurate model of isodoses to be used in radiotherapy so that appropriate planning can be performed prior to actual treatment on a patient. The nature of the simulation of the radiotherapy planning for BNCT and Fast Neutron Therapy, etc., requires that the doses be computed in the entire volume. The 'entire volume' includes the patient and beam geometries as well as the air spaces in between. Isodoses derived from the computed doses will therefore extend into the air regions between the patient and beam geometries and thus depict the unrealistic possibility that radiation deposition occurs in regions containing no physical media. This problem is solved by computing the doses for the entire geometry and then masking the physical and air regions along with the isodose contours superimposed over the patient image at the corresponding plane. The user is thus able to mask out (remove) the contour lines from the unwanted areas of the image by selecting the appropriate contour masking region from the raster image.

Dose masking feature for BNCT radiotherapy planning

A system for use in Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) radiotherapy planning where a biological distribution is calculated using a combination of conversion factors and a previously calculated physical distribution. Conversion factors are presented in a graphical spreadsheet so that a planner can easily view and modify the conversion factors. For radiotherapy in multi-component modalities, such as Fast-Neutron and BNCT, it is necessary to combine each conversion factor component to form an effective dose which is used in radiotherapy planning and evaluation. The Dose Factor Entry and Display System is designed to facilitate planner entry of appropriate conversion factors in a straightforward manner for each component. The effective isodose is then immediately computed and displayed over the appropriate background (e.g. digitized image).

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Bozeman, MT, United States of America

Daniel E Wessol