Granted Patent B2

US 12,491,376 · App. 17/842,711 · Granted Dec 9, 2025

Inventor: Pierre Lansonneur (Lyons, FR)

Assignee: SIEMENS HEALTHINEERS INTERNATIONAL AG

A61N5/1031A61N5/1071

Abstract

Claims (38)

1 . A computer implemented method of determining spot positioning for each field associated with a target volume (TV), said method comprising:

accessing dose volume constraints and information associated with a target volume (TV) structure and an associated organs at risk (OAR) structure;

determining a respective density map for each of the TV structure and the OAR structure;

using a minimum number of Monitor Units (MU) per spot constraint, computing a respective minimum distance between spots for a portion of a field that overlaps with the TV structure and a portion of the field that overlaps with the OAR structure; and

applying a rendering process to convert the density maps for each of the portions into a set of points; and

using the set of points and the minimum distance between spots computed, determining a respective spot map for each of the portions.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

delivering a respective dose to the TV and OAR structures, wherein the spot map associated with the dose satisfies constraints associated with the minimum distance between spots computed.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the rendering process comprises a weighted Voronoi stippling process.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the rendering process is a Lloyd's process.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the rendering process comprises a weighted Voronoi stippling process, and wherein the applying comprises deriving the set of points by preserving a spot delivery sequencing.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the density map determined for the TV structure comprises a higher density compared to the density of the density map determined for the OAR structure.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining the spot map comprises determining a position of each spot in each of the portions wherein no two spots are closer than the minimum distance between spots computed.

8 . A computer system comprising a processor coupled to a bus and memory coupled to said bus wherein said memory is programmed with instructions that when executed cause said computer system to implement a method of determining spot positioning for each field associated with a target volume (TV), said method comprising:

accessing dose volume constraints and information associated with a TV structure and an associated organ at risk (OAR) structure;

determining a respective density map for each of the TV structure and the OAR structure;

using a minimum number of protons per spot constraint, computing a respective minimum distance between spots for a portion of a field that overlaps with the TV structure and a portion of the field that overlaps with the OAR structure; and

applying a rendering process to convert the density maps for each of the portions into a set of points; and

using the set of points and the minimum distance between spots computed, determining a respective spot map for each of the portions.

9 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the method further comprises:

delivering a respective dose to the TV and OAR structures, wherein the spot map associated with the doses satisfies constraints associated with the minimum distance between spots computed.

10 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the rendering process is a weighted Voronoi stippling process.

11 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the rendering process is a Lloyd's process.

12 . The system of claim 8 wherein the dose volume constraints comprise a minimum dose rate of 40 grays per seconds (Gy/s).

13 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the density map determined for the portion overlapping with the TV structure comprises a higher density compared to the density of the density map determined for the portion overlapping with the OAR structure.

14 . The system of claim 8 , wherein determining the spot map comprises determining a position of each spot in each of the portions such that no two spots are closer than the minimum distance between spots computed.

15 . A computer implemented method of determining spot positioning for each field associated with a target volume (TV), said method comprising:

accessing dose volume constraints and information associated with contours associated with a TV structure and an associated organ at risk (OAR) structure;

using the dose volume constraints and the information associated with the contours, determining a respective density map for each of the structures;

using a minimum number of protons per spot constraint, computing a minimum distance between spots for a portion of a field that overlaps with the TV structure and a portion of the field that overlaps with the OAR structure; and

applying a rendering process to convert the density maps for each of the portions into a set of points; and

using the set of points and the minimum distance between spots computed, determining a spot map for each of the portions.

16 . The method of claim 15 , further comprising:

delivering a respective dose to the TV and OAR structures, wherein the spot map associated with the dose satisfies constraints associated with the minimum distance between spots computed.

17 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the rendering process comprises a weighted Voronoi stippling process.

18 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the rendering process comprises a Lloyd's process.

19 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the dose volume constraints comprise a minimum dose rate of 40 grays per seconds (Gy/s).

20 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the density map determined for the portion overlapping with the TV structure comprises a higher density compared to the portion overlapping with the OAR.

Assignments (2)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (13)