Radiation treatment planning real-time user interface

1. A method to facilitate shaping a radiation treatment dose comprising:

by a control circuit:

accessing a plurality of at least three different radiation treatment plans for a particular patient;

forming a mixed radiation treatment plan from the at least three different radiation treatment plans;

presenting on a display a plurality of dose volume histograms for the mixed radiation treatment plan, wherein at least one of the dose volume histograms depicts a first histogram that relates radiation dose to a target volume and another of the dose volume histograms depicts a second histogram that relates radiation dose to an organ at risk;

presenting on the display an overlay of calculated radiation dose from the mixed radiation treatment plan on a treatment planning image volume;

detecting a user's manipulation of one of the dose volume histograms, and in response thereto, modifying on the display at least one other of the dose volume histograms as a function of a mix of at least two of the plurality of different radiation treatment plans;

detecting a user's real-time manipulation of the overlay of the calculated radiation dose and in response thereto modifying on the display in real-time the plurality of dose volume histograms and the overlay of the calculated radiation dose.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the plurality of different radiation treatment plans comprises a plurality of different multi-criteria optimization radiation treatment plans.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein each of the multi-criteria optimization radiation treatment plans includes a representative multi-dimensional vector.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the control circuit is configured to modify on the display the at least one other of the dose volume histograms as a function of a mix of at least two of the plurality of different radiation treatment plans by varying a weighting factor as corresponds to the representative multi-dimensional vector for mixed radiation treatment plans.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the plurality of different radiation treatment plans all presume the administration of radiation to the particular patient via brachytherapy.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the plurality of different radiation treatment plans all presume the administration of radiation to the particular patient via an external radiation beam.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

also presenting on the display, simultaneously with presenting the plurality of dose volume histograms, a plurality of user-interactive indicators that collectively represent dosing trade-offs amongst a plurality of patient volumes.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the plurality of user-interactive indicators comprise sliders.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the control circuit is further configured to modify the display of the dose volume histograms in response to a user's manipulation of one of the plurality of user-interactive indicators.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein presenting on the display an overlay of the calculated radiation dose from the mixed radiation treatment plan on the treatment planning image volume comprises displaying at least one of:

a set of isodose contours;

dose color washes.

11. An apparatus to facilitate shaping a radiation treatment dose comprising:

a control circuit configured to:

access a plurality of at least three different radiation treatment plans for a particular patient;

form a mixed radiation treatment plan from the at least three different radiation treatment plans;

present on a display a plurality of dose volume histograms for the mixed radiation treatment plan, wherein at least one of the dose volume histograms depicts a first histogram that relates radiation dose to a target volume and another of the dose volume histograms depicts a second histogram that relates radiation dose to an organ at risk;

present on the display an overlay of calculated radiation dose from the mixed radiation treatment plan on a treatment planning image volume;

detect a user's manipulation of one of the dose volume histograms, and in response thereto, modifying on the display at least one other of the dose volume histograms as a function of a mix of at least two of the plurality of different radiation treatment plans;

detect a user's real-time manipulation of the overlay of the calculated radiation dose and in response thereto modifying on the display in real-time the plurality of dose volume histograms and the overlay of the calculated radiation dose.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the plurality of different radiation treatment plans comprises a plurality of different multi-criteria optimization radiation treatment plans.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein each of the multi-criteria optimization radiation treatment plans includes a representative multi-dimensional vector.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the control circuit is further configured to modify on the display the at least one other of the dose volume histograms as a function of a mix of at least two of the plurality of different radiation treatment plans by varying a weighting factor as corresponds to the representative multi-dimensional vector for mixed radiation treatment plans.

15. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the control circuit is configured to present on the display the overlay of the calculated radiation dose from the mixed radiation treatment plan on the treatment planning image volume by displaying at least one of:

a set of isodose contours;

dose color washes.

16. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the plurality of different radiation treatment plans all presume the administration of radiation to the particular patient via brachytherapy.

17. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the plurality of different radiation treatment plans all presume the administration of radiation to the particular patient via an external radiation beam.

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

also present on the display, simultaneously with presenting the plurality of dose volume histograms, a plurality of user-interactive indicators that collectively represent dosing trade-offs amongst a plurality of patient volumes.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 wherein the plurality of user-interactive indicators comprise sliders.

20. The apparatus of claim 18 wherein the control circuit is further configured to modify the display of the dose volume histograms in response to a user's manipulation of one of the plurality of user-interactive indicators.