Koninklijke Philips Corporation N.v.

Elekta, Inc.

Harald Sepp Heese

Torbjoern Vik

Alfonso Agatino Isola

Daniel Bystrov

Christoph Neukirchen

Andre Goossen

Rolf Juergen Weese

Rafael Wiemker

Klaus Erhard

Thomas Buelow

Heinrich Schulz

Jens Wiegert

Rolf Jürgen Weese

Maria Luiza Bondar

Nick Flaeschner

Thomas Koehler

Juergen Weese

Jochen Peters

Martin Bergtholdt

Steffen Renisch

Christian Buerger

Frank Bergner

Astrid Ruth Franz

Hans Barschdorf

Torbjorn Vik

Dominik Benjamin Kutra

Johan Michiel Den Harder

Matthieu Frédéric Bal

Matthieu Frederic Bal

Marc Kouwenhoven

Arjan Willem Simonetti

Ruediger Grewer

Wendy De Kok

Kay Sun

Cornelis Johannes Franciscus Maria Bergmans

The invention relates to a system for determining a radiation therapy plan for a radiation therapy system (), comprising a multi-leaf collimator. The radiation therapy plan determination system () comprises a therapy system characteristics providing unit (), wherein the characteristics comprise possible leaf positions and possible radiation fluence values, a planning objectives providing unit (), wherein the planning objectives are indicative of a desired therapeutic radiation dose distribution, an optimization function providing unit (), wherein the optimization function is indicative of a deviation of a radiation dose distribution from the planning objectives and of an uncertainty of the radiation dose distribution at edges of the possible apertures, and a therapy plan optimization unit () adapted to determine a sequence of possible apertures and possible radiation fluence values for which the optimization function is optimized. Thus, an optimal therapy plan can be provided for each individual patient.

System, method and computer program for determining a radiation therapy plan for a radiation therapy system

A device for optimizing a radiation therapy plan () for delivering therapeutic radiation to a patient using a therapeutic radiation source () while modulated by a multi-leaf collimator (MLC) () includes at least one electronic processor () connected to a radiation therapy device (). A non-transitory computer readable medium () stores instructions readable and executable by the at least one electronic processor to perform a radiation therapy plan optimization method () including: optimizing MLC settings of the MLC respective to an objective function wherein the MLC settings define MLC leaf tip positions for a plurality of rows of MLC leaf pairs at a plurality of control points (CPs). The optimizing is performed in two or more iterations with a resolution of the MLC settings increasing in successive iterations.

Fast generation of multi-leaf collimator (MLC) openings using hierarchical multi-resolution matching

The invention relates a system for assisting in planning a radiation therapy treatment provided using a treatment plan comprising irradiation parameters for controlling a delivery of radiation. The system is configured to (i) receive a first dose distribution, (ii) obtain a first objective function, which depends upon at least one parameter and a dose distribution, (iii) determine a first value of the parameter such that the first objective function fulfills a predefined criterion when being evaluated for the first value of the parameter and for a second dose distribution derived from the first dose distribution, (iii) provide the first objective function in connection with the first value of the at least one parameter to a user for modifying the first objective function to generate a second objective function, and (v) determine the treatment plan using the second objective function. Further, the invention relates to a corresponding method and computer program.

Radiation therapy planning

The invention relates to a planning apparatus for planning a radiation therapy. A medical image, in which a target to be irradiated is indicated, is reformatted based on ray geometries to be used during the radiation therapy to be planned, resulting in several reformatted medical images. Radiation therapy parameters being indicative of intensities of raysto be used for irradiating a targetare determined based on the reformatted medical images by using a neural network unit. This allows to determine high quality radiation therapy parameters and hence allows for an improved planning of a radiation therapy. In particular, radiation and absorptions physics can be captured better, which can lead to the improved quality.

Planning apparatus for planning a radiation therapy

A resource management system for better operation of a plurality of devices. The system comprises an input interface (IN) for receiving input data including one or more characteristics of at least one work object (P-P) and/or including context data. The at least one work object (P-P) can be processed by one or more processing devices (M). The said processing is specified in a respective work specification (S-S). A predictor component (PC) of the system is configured to predict, based on the input data, a change to the work specification. The system comprises an output interface (OUT) for providing output data that represents said predicted change.

Resource scheduling in adaptive radiation therapy planning

A system includes a computing system with a processor and computer readable storage medium with computer readable and executable instructions, including a radiation plan module, a radiation plan optimization module and a radiation plan visualization module. The processor is configured to execute the instructions, which causes the processor to construct and visually present, via a display monitor, a two-dimensional plot with three-dimensions of data from a radiation plan, and two dimensions along two axes of the plot and a third dimension represented through intensity.

Visualization of volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) plans

The invention relates to a dynamic sliding-window-like initialization for, for example, iterative VMAT algorithms. Specifically, a dynamic sliding window conversion method is contemplated where typical dynamic VMAT constraints are taken into account to find an optimal set of suitable openings (i.e. binary masks) that can be used as quasi-feasible start initialization for any VMAT algorithm that can refine until a deliverable plan is reached. Here, a multileaf leaf tip trajectory least square constrained optimization is performed to find a set of optimal unidirectional trajectories for all MLC leaf pairs of all arc points. To ensure that a quasi-feasible (or better quasi-deliverable) solution is returned, for example, a maximum dose rate, a maximum gantry speed, a maximum leafs speed, and a maximum treatment time may be enforced.

Warm start initialization for external beam radiotherapy plan optimization

The present invention relates to an apparatus for tomosynthesis image reconstruction. It is described to provide () a first projection image data set and a second projection image data set acquired after acquisition of the first projection image data set, wherein, the first projection image data set comprises first projection data, and the second projection image data set comprises second projection data, and wherein the first projection image data set is useable for the reconstruction of a tomosynthesis image of at least a region of interest of a body part and wherein the second projection image data set is useable for the reconstruction of a tomosynthesis image of at least the region of interest of the body part. A subset of the first projection data is selected (). An enhanced image of at least the region of interest of the body part is reconstructed () on the basis of the subset of the first projection data and second projection reconstruction data comprising at least a first subset of the second projection data. Information is output () relating to the enhanced image of at least the region of interest of the body part.

Apparatus for tomosynthesis image reconstruction

A radiation planning system includes a predictor-corrector optimizer unit which computes a predicted dose based on a collection of control points with a current approximate dose, each control point with a corresponding set of leaf positions, and determines an additional control point with a corresponding set of leaf positions based on a difference of the predicted fluence and the current approximate fluence through a least cost or shortest path in a layered graph structure of realizable leaf positions. Tools are described to help a planner to evaluate the effect of parameter changes to the current plan based on an identified zone of influence. The planner interactively views the current plan based on a visualization of the plan objectives and correlations between the objectives.

Radiation therapy planning optimization and visualization

A system and a method are provided for enabling a user to interactively navigate through a set of slice images, the set of slice images jointly representing an image volume showing an anatomical structure of a patient. A user may be enabled to switch from a static viewing mode to a navigation mode based on navigation commands received from a user input device operable by the user. A display processor may be configured for, in the static viewing mode, generating an output image comprising one slice image of the set of slice images. The display processor may be configured for, in the navigation mode, replacing the said one slice image in the output image by a volume rendering of a slab of the image volume, the slab comprising more than one slice image. The system and method thus selectively switch to volume rendering, namely during navigation, whereas in a static (i.e., non-navigation) viewing mode, a slice image is shown. Advantageously, the user may thus follow structures more accurately when navigate through a volume image, thereby more quickly and accurately identifying slice images of interest.

Medical image navigation system

It is an object of the invention to provide for a system, method and computer program product enabling monitoring of effects of intrafraction motion during the radio therapy treatment. According to a first aspect of the invention this object is achieved by an ultrasound guided radiotherapy system, comprising a radiotherapy system configured for providing a radiation treatment by means of a radiation beam to a treatment target. The ultrasound guided radiotherapy system further comprises an ultrasound imaging system configured for acquiring a 3D online image of the treatment target and/or an organ at risk during the radiation treatment. It further comprises detection means configured for detection, in the 3D online image, parts representing the treatment target and/or organ at risk and selection means configured for selecting a view plane through the treatment target and/or an organ at risk represented by the detected parts in the 3D online image and a display configured to display a 2D image of part of the treatment target and/or organ at risk along the view plane, wherein the display is further configured to display a treatment margin and/or an outline of an actual radiation beam in relation to the treatment target and/or organ at risk.

Ultrasound guided radiotherapy system

A digital image () comprises pixels with intensities relating to different energy levels. A method for processing the digital image () comprises the steps of: receiving first image data () and second image data () of the digital image (), the first image data () encoding a first energy level and the second image data () encoding a second energy level; determining a regression model () from the first image data () and the second image data (), the regression model () establishing a correlation between intensities of pixels of the first image data () with intensities of pixels of the second image data (); and calculating residual mode image data () from the first image data () and the second image data (), such that a pixel of the residual mode image data () has an intensity based on the difference of an intensity of the second image data () at the pixel and a correlated intensity of the pixel of the first image data (), the correlated intensity determinate by applying the regression model to the intensity of pixel of the first image data ().

Determining a residual mode image from a dual energy image

Soft body tissue, such as a female breast, is imaged using X-ray projection techniques and optical tomography techniques. First image data for a first image of a breast () are acquired by X-ray projection using an X-ray source () and an X-ray detector (). Second image data for a second image are acquired using optical tomography equipment comprising a light source () and a light detector (). From the first image data, estimated bulk optical properties of the breast () are be derived. Based on such estimated bulk optical properties, an optical tomography image is reconstructed from the second image data with high image quality. Performing mammography acquisition at different compression states of the breast () improves patient comfort. Mammograms are acquired at two different compression states wherein a first compression state is adapted to provide high image resolution. At a second compression state, another mammogram may be acquired together with an optical tomography image. The two mammograms are used for image registration thereby possibly providing information for a deformation transform. Additional information on tissue composition within the breast is received by acquiring the first and second mammogram at different X-ray settings.

Method and device for imaging soft body tissue using X-ray projection and optical tomography

An X-ray imaging system element () includes two compression elements (), which are movable relative to one another. An object () is introducible and compressible between the compression elements. At least one of the compression elements is adapted to alter its geometrical shape and/or alignment relative to the other during compression. At least one partly X-ray opaque marker element () is provided on one of the compression elements, which marker element is adapted to allow detection of an alteration of the geometrical shape of the respective compression element ().

Image-based determination of compression element deflection

An apparatus for automatic selection of optimal tomography slices by executing a number of tentative segmentations using the same interactively provided in-slice seed point on some or all available tomography slices. The appropriate segmentation boundaries are then marked and the slice with the best segmentation goodness value (figure of merit) is presented to the user via a viewer. The steps are repeated when the user changes the seed point. The optimal segmentation boundary is displayed on top of a single simulated mammography image, fused from all tomography slice images.

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Hamburg, Germany

Harald Sepp Heese