Method and apparatus to facilitate generating an optimized radiation treatment plan using direct-aperture optimization that includes fluence-based sub-optimization

1. A method to facilitate treating a particular patient with therapeutic radiation using a particular radiation treatment platform per an optimized radiation treatment plan, the method comprising:

by a control circuit:

accessing optimization information for the particular patient and for the particular radiation treatment platform;

generating the optimized radiation treatment plan by, at least in part, optimizing a radiation treatment plan for the particular patient using the particular radiation treatment platform by, at least in part, processing the optimization information using direct-aperture-optimization, wherein the direct-aperture-optimization itself includes fluence-based sub-optimization.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the control circuit is configured to include the fluence-based sub-optimization in at least some, but not necessarily all, iterations of the direct-aperture-optimization.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the control circuit is further configured to:

detect a change to at least one of at least one objective function corresponding to the direct-aperture-optimization and control point positioning corresponding to the direct-aperture-optimization;

in response to detecting the change, automatically including the fluence-based sub-optimization in at least one iteration of the direct-aperture-optimization.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the control circuit is configured to include only a few iterations of the fluence-based sub-optimization when including the fluence-based sub-optimization in at least some, but not necessarily all, iterations of the direct-aperture-optimization.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the control circuit is configured to include the few iterations of the fluence-based sub-optimization such that a target fluence is refined by using a previous iteration target fluence as an initial fluence in a cost-gradient calculation as versus a fluence that was calculated from a current multi-leaf collimator configuration.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the fluence-based sub-optimization comprises, at least in part and within a given iteration of the fluence-based sub-optimization, at least two of:

calculating an initial fluence from a given multi-leaf collimator configuration;

projecting a corresponding dose gradient onto a fluence plane to specify a gradient fluence;

summing the initial fluence and the gradient fluence to specify a target fluence.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the control circuit is configured to process the optimization information using the direct-aperture-optimization as a function of the target fluence.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

applying the therapeutic radiation to the particular patient via the particular radiation treatment platform as a function of the optimized radiation treatment plan.

9. An apparatus to facilitate treating a particular patient with therapeutic radiation using a particular radiation treatment platform per an optimized radiation treatment plan, the apparatus comprising:

a memory having optimization information for the particular patient and for the particular radiation treatment platform stored therein;

a control circuit operably coupled to the memory and being configured to:

access the optimization information for the particular patient and for the particular radiation treatment platform;

generate the optimized radiation treatment plan by, at least in part, optimizing a radiation treatment plan for the particular patient using the particular radiation treatment platform by, at least in part, processing the optimization information using direct-aperture-optimization, wherein the direct-aperture-optimization itself includes fluence-based sub-optimization.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the control circuit is configured to include the fluence-based sub-optimization in at least some, but not necessarily all, iterations of the direct-aperture-optimization.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the control circuit is further configured to:

detect a change to at least one of at least one objective function corresponding to the direct-aperture-optimization and control point positioning corresponding to the direct-aperture-optimization;

in response to detecting the change, automatically including the fluence-based sub-optimization in at least one iteration of the direct-aperture-optimization.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the control circuit is configured to include only a few iterations of the fluence-based sub-optimization when including the fluence-based sub-optimization in at least some, but not necessarily all, iterations of the direct-aperture-optimization.

13. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the fluence-based sub-optimization comprises, at least in part and within a given iteration of the fluence-based sub-optimization, at least two of:

calculating an initial fluence from a given multi-leaf collimator configuration;

projecting a corresponding dose gradient onto a fluence plane to specify a gradient fluence;

summing the initial fluence and the gradient fluence to specify a target fluence.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the control circuit is configured to process the optimization information using the direct-aperture-optimization as a function of the target fluence.

15. An apparatus to facilitate treating a particular patient with therapeutic radiation per an optimized radiation treatment plan, the apparatus comprising:

a particular radiation treatment platform;

a memory having optimization information for the particular patient and for the particular radiation treatment platform stored therein;

a control circuit operably coupled to the memory and being configured to:

access the optimization information for the particular patient and for the particular radiation treatment platform;

generate the optimized radiation treatment plan by, at least in part, optimizing a radiation treatment plan for the particular patient using the particular radiation treatment platform by, at least in part, processing the optimization information using direct-aperture-optimization, wherein the direct-aperture-optimization itself includes fluence-based sub-optimization.

16. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the control circuit is configured to include the fluence-based sub-optimization in at least some, but not necessarily all, iterations of the direct-aperture-optimization.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the control circuit is further configured to:

detect a change to at least one of at least one objective function corresponding to the direct-aperture-optimization and control point positioning corresponding to the direct-aperture-optimization;

in response to detecting the change, automatically including the fluence-based sub-optimization in at least one iteration of the direct-aperture-optimization.

18. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the control circuit is configured to include only a few iterations of the fluence-based sub-optimization when including the fluence-based sub-optimization in at least some, but not necessarily all, iterations of the direct-aperture-optimization.

19. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the fluence-based sub-optimization comprises, at least in part and within a given iteration of the fluence-based sub-optimization, at least two of:

calculating an initial fluence from a given multi-leaf collimator configuration;

projecting a corresponding dose gradient onto a fluence plane to specify a gradient fluence;

summing the initial fluence and the gradient fluence to specify a target fluence.

20. The apparatus of claim 19 wherein the control circuit is configured to process the optimization information using the direct-aperture-optimization as a function of the target fluence.