Radiation therapy systems and methods
A system including a diagnostic-quality CT scanner for imaging a patient, the diagnostic-quality CT scanner having an imaging isocenter and a radiation therapy device positioned adjacent the diagnostic-quality CT scanner, the radiation therapy device including a gantry carrying a radiation therapy beam source and having a radiation therapy isocenter separate from the imaging isocenter of the diagnostic-quality CT scanner. The system including a couch configured to position the patient for imaging and for radiation therapy by translating the patient between the diagnostic quality CT scanner and the radiation therapy device.
1. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory, machine-readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by at least one programmable processor, cause the at least one programmable processor to perform operations comprising:
receiving a treatment plan for the delivery of radiation therapy;
receiving diagnostic-quality CT images from a diagnostic-quality CT scanner;
morphing the treatment plan onto the diagnostic-quality CT images by applying deformable image registration to the treatment plan;
assessing a quality of dose distribution for the treatment plan;
re-optimizing the treatment plan when the quality of dose distribution is determined to be suboptimal; and
determining a dose delivery prediction by converting diagnostic-quality CT numbers in the diagnostic-quality CT images to electron densities.
2. The computer program product of claim 1 , the operations further comprising:
controlling a patient couch to place the patient at a position for diagnostic-quality CT imaging; and
controlling the patient couch to place the patient at the radiation therapy isocenter after receiving the diagnostic-quality CT images.
3. The computer program product of claim 1 , the operations further comprising:
autocontouring tissues and/or targets that were segmented in the treatment plan onto the diagnostic-quality CT images.
4. The computer program product of claim 1 , the operations further comprising:
controlling a patient couch to place the patient at a position for diagnostic-quality CT imaging; and
performing the reoptimizing prior to delivery of radiation therapy.
5. A system comprising:
a diagnostic-quality CT scanner for imaging a patient, the diagnostic-quality CT scanner having an imaging isocenter;
a radiation therapy device positioned adjacent the diagnostic-quality CT scanner, the radiation therapy device including a gantry carrying a radiation therapy beam source and having a radiation therapy isocenter separate from the imaging isocenter of the diagnostic-quality CT scanner;
a patient couch configured to position the patient for imaging and for radiation therapy by translating the patient between the diagnostic-quality CT scanner and the radiation therapy device; and
a non-transitory, machine-readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by at least one programmable processor, cause the at least one programmable processor to perform operations comprising:
receiving a treatment plan for the delivery of radiation therapy;
receiving diagnostic-quality CT images from the diagnostic-quality CT scanner;
morphing the treatment plan onto the diagnostic-quality CT images by applying deformable image registration to the treatment plan;
assessing a quality of dose distribution for the treatment plan;
reoptimizing the treatment plan when the quality of dose distribution is determined to be suboptimal; and
determining a dose delivery prediction by converting diagnostic-quality CT numbers in the diagnostic-quality CT images to electron densities.
6. The system of claim 5 , the operations further comprising:
controlling the patient couch to place the patient at a position for diagnostic-quality CT imaging; and
controlling the patient couch to place the patient at the radiation therapy isocenter after receiving the diagnostic-quality CT images.
7. The system of claim 5 , the operations further comprising:
autocontouring tissues and/or targets that were segmented in the treatment plan onto the diagnostic-quality CT images.
8. The system of claim 5 , the operations further comprising:
controlling the patient couch to place the patient at a position for diagnostic-quality CT imaging; and
performing the reoptimizing prior to delivery of radiation therapy.