Streamlined, guided on-couch adaptive workflow

1. A method for implementing user checkpoints in an automated adaptive radiation therapy session, comprising:

allowing a user access, via a console of a computer processing system, to a set of previously determined treatment directives for a patient, the treatment directives including information regarding planned radiation dose, planned clinical goals, planned clinical goal values, reference patient model, reference treatment plan, reference structures, list of influencer structures, and at least one reference image of the patient;

acquiring a treatment session image of the patient;

prompting the user to select one or more influencer structures from the list of influencer structures contained in the set of treatment directives and to initiate delineation of the selected influencer structures on the treatment session image;

prompting the user to evaluate the delineated influencer structures on the treatment session image;

presenting the user, via a console display, with a plurality of options based on the evaluation, the options including an option to accept the delineated influencer structures;

allowing the user to initiate propagation of selective structures included in the reference image onto the treatment session image upon acceptance of the delineated influencer structures by the user;

prompting the user to evaluate the propagated structures;

presenting the user, via the console display, with a plurality of options based on the evaluation, the options including an option to accept the propagated structures;

allowing the user to initiate generation of a first treatment plan and a second treatment plan upon acceptance of the propagated structures;

prompting the user to evaluate the generated first and second treatment plans;

presenting the user, via the console display, with a plurality of options that the user can select from based on the evaluation, the plurality of options including an option to select the first treatment plan to be executed in the current treatment session, an option to select the second treatment plan to be executed in the current treatment session, and an option to execute a contingency treatment plan for the current treatment session; and

allowing the user to select an appropriated treatment plan to be executed in the current treatment session of the adaptive radiation therapy.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein

the selective structures include:

a first set of target structures representing contours of a primary tumor; and

a second set of target structures representing contours of one or more primarily affected organs (OARs), and

the influencer structures include:

a first set of influencer structures representing contours of one or more organs that affect one or more of a shape, size or location of one or more of the target structures; and

a second set of influencer structures representing contours of non-volumetric structures.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the prompting of the user to select one or more influencer structures includes:

displaying to the user the list of influencer structures available in the set of treatment directives; and

allowing the user to select the influencer structures that are appropriate for a current treatment site of the patient.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the prompting of the user to initiate the delineation of the selected influencer structures on the treatment session image includes:

displaying to the user a plurality of options for the delineation, the plurality of options including an option for manual delineation, an option for automatic delineation, an option for a combination of manual and automatic delineation, and an option for propagating the selected influencer structures from the reference image to the treatment session image; and

prompting the user to choose one of the displayed options.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein when the propagating option is selected by the user, the user is further prompted to select between an option to propagate by deformable deformation or by rigid deformation.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein when the manual option is selected by the user, the user identifies and draws the influencer structures on the treatment session image using an interactive graphical interface of the computer processing system.

7. The method of claim 4 , wherein when the automatic option is selected by the user, the influencer structures are automatically delineated using one or more automatic segmentation algorithms executed by a contour generation module of the computer processing system.

8. The method of claim 4 , wherein the prompting of the user to evaluate the delineated influencer structures on the treatment session image includes:

displaying to the user a plurality of available contour evaluation tools; and

allowing the user to select one or more of the available contour evaluation tools.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the contour evaluation tools include tools that allow the user to:

view the delineated influencer structures from different views on the interactive graphical interface display;

identify locations where the delineated influencer structures need correction; and

verify correctness of the delineated influencer structures.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the verifying the correctness of the delineated influencer structures includes:

presenting to the user the treatment session image including the delineated influencer structures and the reference image including corresponding reference influencer structures for comparison; and

the user verifying that the delineated influencer structures correspond to the reference influencer structures.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the presenting the user with a plurality of options based on the evaluation of the delineated influencer structures further includes displaying to the user an option to modify, redraw, or delete the delineated influencer structures using the interactive graphical interface.

12. The method of claim 4 , wherein the allowing the user to initiate the propagation of the selective structures included in the reference image onto the treatment session image includes:

displaying one or more propagation methods to the user; and

allowing the user to select a propagation method to propagate the selected structures onto the treatment session image, wherein the one or more propagation methods includes a structure-guided deformable registration method, which is a deformable registration that is guided by one or more of the selected influencer structures.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the prompting of the user to evaluate the propagated structures includes:

displaying to the user a plurality of available propagation evaluation tools; and

allowing the user to select one or more of the available propagation evaluation tools,

wherein the propagation evaluation tools include tools that allow the user to:

view the propagated structures on the treatment session image;

detect irregularities in the propagated structures;

identify locations where the irregularities are detected; and

verify correctness of the propagated structures.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the verifying includes:

displaying the treatment session image including the propagated structures and the reference image including corresponding structures for comparison; and

determining whether the propagated first set of target structures on the treatment session image represent same anatomical regions of the patient as the first set of target structures in the reference image.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the determining further includes one or more of:

synchronizing the reference image with the treatment session image prior to the verifying;

using information relating to shapes and positions of the propagated and reference first set of target structures in the treatment session image and the reference image;

using information relating to radiation dose representations in the reference image and the treatment session image;

using automated tools to detect irregularities in the compared first set of target structures; and

using automated tools to guide the user to locations where irregularities are detected.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the presenting the user with a plurality of options based on the evaluation of the propagated structures further includes displaying to the user an option to correct the propagated first set of target structures or to default to another user for correction upon a determination that the propagated first set of target structures are not acceptable.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the allowing the user to initiate generation of the first treatment plan includes:

accepting the propagated structures; and

prompting the computer processing system to:

obtain a reference isocenter location for the reference patient model from the set of directives;

determine an acquisition isocenter location for a session patient model, the session patient model being the treatment session image including the delineated reference structures and the propagated target structures;

align the accepted propagated first set of target structures in the session patient model with the corresponding reference first set of target structures in the reference patient model;

determine a difference between the location of the reference isocenter and the location of the acquisition isocenter;

determine a treatment session isocenter location by applying the determined difference to the acquisition isocenter location; and

using the treatment session isocenter location as an input to a plan generation algorithm to generate the first treatment plan.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein the allowing the user to initiate generation of the second treatment plan includes:

accepting the propagated structures; and

prompting the computer processing system to:

generate a synthetic image for the patient by registering the treatment session image with the reference image;

use the synthetic image and the propagated target structures as input to a treatment plan generation algorithm to generate a treatment plan, wherein the plan generation algorithm includes optimization parameters which are automatically generated based on the planned clinical goals included in the set of directives; and

generate the second treatment plan by optimizing the generated plan using information relating to the reference treatment plan included in the set of directives,

wherein the optimization parameters are automatically modified and automatically selected without the user's input.

19. The method of claim 1 , wherein the selecting of the appropriate treatment plan includes:

evaluating whether the first treatment plan is acceptable for the current treatment session using the clinical goals from the set of directives;

selecting the second treatment plan when determined that the first treatment plan is not acceptable;

evaluating whether the second treatment plan is acceptable; and

selecting the contingency plan when determined that the second treatment plan is not acceptable.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein the selecting of the appropriate treatment session further includes:

presenting, to the user, the first and second treatment plans in a comparison view;

illustrating isodose distribution of the reference plan on the reference patient model, isodose distribution of the first treatment plan on the treatment session model, and isodose distribution of the second treatment plan on the treatment session model;

illustrating dose volume histograms of the reference plan, the first treatment plan and the second treatment plan;

presenting the planned clinical goal values;

presenting actual clinical values for the first and second treatment plans; and

selecting the treatment plan that provides the clinical values closest to the planned clinical goal values,

wherein the selecting further includes selecting, by the user, the contingency plan when neither the first and second treatment plans achieve the planned clinical goals.