System and method for biological treatment planning and decision support
Embodiments of the present invention provide an integrated solution to radiotherapy treatment planning that enables accurate recording and accumulation of physical parameters as input (e.g., dose, dose rate, irradiation time per voxel, etc.). User-defined functions are evaluated to correlate the input parameters with 4D biological outcomes. The resulting biological parameters can be visualized as a biological outcome map to evaluate decisions, support decisions, and optimize decisions regarding the parameters of the radiotherapy treatment plan, for example, for supporting clinical trials and related clinical research.
1. A computer-implemented method for radiotherapy treatment planning, the method comprising:
receiving physical input parameters comprising a physical input parameter for each voxel of a plurality of voxels of a treatment map;
generating a biological outcome map to assign to said each voxel of the treatment map a respective value determined using an input function that is based on a relationship between the physical input parameter for said each voxel and a biological outcome for said each voxel;
displaying the biological outcome map on a computer controlled display device to visualize the relationship in a displayed biological outcome map, wherein the displayed biological outcome map displays a respective biological outcome for said each voxel; and
optimizing a radiotherapy treatment plan based on the relationship depicted in the biological outcome map.
2. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the input function represents a computer memory resident biological model.
3. The method as described in claim 1 wherein optimizing the radiotherapy treatment plan comprises reducing a dose delivered to normal tissue.
4. The method as described in claim 1 further comprising determining the biological outcome by analyzing a post-treatment image.
5. The method as described in claim 1 wherein optimizing the radiotherapy treatment plan comprises optimizing a physical dose and a biological dose of the radiotherapy treatment plan, and further comprising assigning priority levels to the physical dose and the biological dose.
6. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the displaying the biological outcome map comprises overlaying the biological outcome map on top of a 3D dose map in a rendering of the display device.
7. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the biological outcome map comprises a 3D image.
8. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the biological outcome map comprises a 4D image that varies over time.
9. The method as described in claim 8 wherein the receiving physical input parameters comprises accumulating the physical input parameters as 4D physical measurements.
10. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the physical input parameters comprise at least one of a dose and a dose rate.
11. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the physical input parameters comprise at least one of an irradiation time and a beam overlap.
12. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the biological outcome comprises a toxicity level.
13. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the biological outcome comprises at least one of a systemic biomarker and a genetic biomarker.
14. An electronic system for radiotherapy treatment planning, the system comprising:
a display device;
a memory; and
a processor in communication with the memory wherein the processor is operable to execute instructions for performing a method of radiotherapy treatment planning, the method comprising:
receiving physical input parameters comprising a physical input parameter for each voxel of a plurality of voxels of a treatment map;
generating a biological outcome map in the memory to assign to said each voxel a respective value determined using an input function that is based on a relationship between the physical input parameter for said each voxel and a biological outcome for said each voxel;
displaying the biological outcome map on the display device to visualize the relationship in a displayed biological outcome map, wherein the displayed biological outcome map displays a respective biological outcome for said each voxel; and
optimizing a radiotherapy treatment plan based on the relationship depicted in the biological outcome map.
15. The system as described in claim 14 wherein the input function represents a biological model.
16. The system as described in claim 14 wherein optimizing the radiotherapy treatment plan comprises reducing a dose delivered to normal tissue.
17. The system as described in claim 14 wherein the method further comprises determining the biological outcome by analyzing a post-treatment image.
18. The system as described in claim 14 wherein the optimizing the radiotherapy treatment plan comprises optimizing a physical dose and a biological dose of the radiotherapy treatment plan, and wherein the method further comprises assigning priority levels to the physical dose and the biological dose.
19. The system as described in claim 14 wherein the displaying the biological outcome map comprises overlaying the biological outcome map on top of a 3D dose map in a rendering on the display device.
20. The system as described in claim 14 wherein the biological outcome map comprises a 3D image.
21. The system as described in claim 14 wherein the biological outcome map comprises a 4D image that varies over time.
22. The system as described in claim 21 wherein the receiving physical input parameters comprises accumulating the physical input parameters as 4D physical measurements.
23. The system as described in claim 14 wherein the physical input parameters comprise at least one of a dose and a dose rate.
24. The system as described in claim 14 wherein the physical input parameters comprise at least one of an irradiation time and a beam overlap.
25. The system as described in claim 14 wherein the biological outcome comprises a toxicity level.
26. The system as described in claim 14 wherein the biological outcome comprises at least one of a systemic biomarker and a genetic biomarker.
27. The system as described in claim 14 wherein the method further comprises at least one of a hypofractionated and split flash regimen, wherein the regimen comprises a duty cycle optimized for timescales associated with disease presentation, cancer location, cellular lifecycle, and immune response times.
28. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium embodying instructions that are executed by a processor to cause the processor to perform a method of radiotherapy treatment planning, the method comprising:
accumulating physical input parameters comprising a physical input parameter for each voxel of a plurality of voxels of a treatment map;
generating a biological outcome map to assign to said each voxel of the treatment map a respective value determined using an input function that is based on a relationship between the physical input parameter for said each voxel and a biological outcome for said each voxel;
displaying the biological outcome map on a display device to visualize the relationship in a displayed biological outcome map, wherein the displayed biological outcome map displays a respective biological outcome for said each voxel; and
optimizing a radiotherapy treatment plan based on the relationship depicted in the biological outcome map.