Radiotherapy beam output control method, system, device, equipment and medium

Abstract

The invention discloses a radiotherapy beam output control method, system, device and equipment and a medium, and relates to the technical field of radiotherapy control, and the method comprises the steps: obtaining the spatial position information of a patient body surface marking module in real time; wherein the marking module comprises a fluorescent marking ball, and the fluorescent marking ball is fixed in a breathing movement remarkable area of a patient; performing information conversion processing on the spatial position information according to a time axis direction to obtain target breathing state change information of the patient, and importing the target breathing state change information into a corresponding preset breathing standard normal form to check whether the target breathing state change information meets a radiotherapy treatment condition; and if the target breathing state change information meets the radiotherapy treatment condition, recommending a corresponding breathing gating window threshold value, and dynamically controlling the output of the radiotherapy beam according to the breathing gating window threshold value. The automatic monitoring of the breathing state change is realized, and the output of the radiotherapy beam is accurately controlled according to the monitoring result.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of radiotherapy control, and particularly to a radiotherapy beam output control method, system, device, equipment and medium. Background Art

[0002] In the era of precise radiotherapy, the physiological movement of a patient's organs (such as breathing) can cause the target area to move, resulting in poor radiotherapy outcomes. In recent years, respiratory gating technology has emerged, which can truly reproduce the shape of tumors and reflect the movement law of tumors. However, in clinical applications, when hospital physicians use a respiratory gating system to manage a patient's respiratory movement, due to the low degree of automation of the current respiratory gating system, when hospital physicians use the respiratory gating system to conduct respiratory training for patients or assist in precise radiotherapy, in the face of problems such as inconsistent anterior-posterior respiratory frequencies and overly large amplitude changes of patients, on-site physicians need to conduct manual intervention. This often requires on-site physicians to highly concentrate their energy throughout the process and closely monitor the changes in the patient's respiratory curve with the naked eye. While the work efficiency is low, it brings a great burden to hospital physicians, thus affecting the implementation of precise radiotherapy. In addition, due to the degree of automation of the current respiratory gating system, the use of the respiratory gating system highly depends on the experience and level of on-site physicians. The gating window thresholds selected by different physicians on-site are inconsistent, and the selected gating trigger phase ranges cannot be unified either. This results in low quality of respiratory gating-assisted precise radiotherapy. In addition, the system delay of the respiratory gating system cannot be effectively quantified, which leads to doubts about the feasibility of respiratory gating-assisted precise radiotherapy by some people. These seriously affect the effective implementation of precise radiotherapy. Summary of the Invention

[0003] In view of this, the purpose of the present invention is to provide a radiotherapy beam output control method, system, device, equipment and medium, which can automatically monitor the respiratory change state and then achieve precise control of radiotherapy beam output. The specific scheme is as follows:

[0004] In the first aspect, the present application discloses a radiotherapy beam output control method, including:

[0005] Obtaining the spatial position information of a patient's body surface marking module in real time; wherein, the marking module includes a fluorescent marking ball, and the fluorescent marking ball is fixed on a significant area of the patient's respiratory movement;

[0006] Performing information conversion processing on the spatial position information in the time axis direction to obtain the target respiratory state change information of the patient, and importing the target respiratory change state information into the corresponding preset respiratory specification paradigm to check whether the target respiratory state change information meets the radiotherapy treatment conditions;

[0007] If the target respiratory state change information meets the radiotherapy treatment conditions, the corresponding respiratory gating window threshold is recommended, and the output of the radiotherapy beam is dynamically controlled according to the respiratory gating window threshold.

[0008] Optionally, the real-time acquisition of the spatial position information of the patient body surface marking module includes:

[0009] Fix the marking module containing several fluorescent marker balls on the chest or upper abdomen of the patient; wherein, the distribution of each of the fluorescent marker balls matches the respiratory direction;

[0010] Use an optical camera to continuously and real-time capture the patient body surface image including the marking module to obtain the spatial position information of each of the fluorescent marker balls.

[0011] Optionally, the information conversion processing of the spatial position information in the time axis direction to obtain the target respiratory state change information of the patient includes:

[0012] Use a preset image processing algorithm to perform marker point positioning on each of the fluorescent marker balls in multiple consecutive patient body surface images to determine the dynamic position change information of the marker points;

[0013] Convert the vertical displacement in the dynamic position change information of the marker points into a respiratory waveform on the time axis to obtain the target respiratory state change information of the patient.

[0014] Optionally, before importing the target respiratory change state information into the corresponding preset respiratory specification paradigm, it further includes:

[0015] Obtain the reference respiratory state change information of the same patient, and use the timestamp synchronization protocol to perform time phase alignment processing on the reference respiratory state change information and the historical real-time respiratory state change information of the same patient to obtain the processed historical real-time respiratory state change information; wherein, the reference respiratory state change information includes respiratory amplitude, respiratory frequency, inspiration phase information, and expiration phase information;

[0016] Calculate the respiratory rhythm stability parameter according to the processed historical real-time respiratory state change information; wherein, the respiratory rhythm stability parameter includes the mean respiratory cycle and the coefficient of variation of respiratory frequency;

[0017] Analyze the displacement difference between the wave peak and the wave valley in the processed historical real-time respiratory state change information, and statistically calculate the amplitude volatility of the processed historical real-time respiratory state change information based on the displacement difference;

[0018] Detect and obtain the baseline fluctuation information of the processed historical real-time respiratory state change information;

[0019] Set a target respiratory gating window range based on the respiratory rhythm stability parameter, the amplitude volatility, and the baseline fluctuation information to construct a preset respiratory norm paradigm for the current patient.

[0020] Optionally, the checking whether the target respiratory state change information meets the radiotherapy treatment conditions includes:

[0021] Checking whether the target respiratory amplitude, the target expiratory phase, the target inspiratory phase, and the target respiratory frequency variation coefficient in the target respiratory state change information respectively meet the threshold ranges in the target respiratory gating window range in the preset respiratory norm paradigm;

[0022] If the target respiratory state change information all meets the threshold ranges, it is determined that the target respiratory state change information meets the radiotherapy treatment conditions;

[0023] If not, it is determined that the target respiratory state change information does not meet the radiotherapy treatment conditions.

[0024] Optionally, after determining that the target respiratory state change information does not meet the radiotherapy treatment conditions, it further includes:

[0025] Stop the output of the radiotherapy beam, adjust the current respiratory state of the patient, and jump to execute the step of obtaining the spatial position information of the patient body surface marking module in real time until the target respiratory state change information meets the radiotherapy treatment conditions.

[0026] In a second aspect, the present application discloses a radiotherapy beam output control system, including a visual sampling unit and a think tank processing unit, wherein,

[0027] The visual acquisition unit includes an optical camera and a marking module, and is used to continuously capture the patient body surface image including the marking module in real time through the optical camera, and send the patient body surface image to the think tank processing unit through a 10 Gigabit Ethernet;

[0028] The think tank processing unit includes a computer workstation and a control program installed on the computer workstation, which is used to receive the patient's body surface image through the computer workstation, and control the control program to sequentially perform image filtering, image enhancement, contour extraction, and feature point recognition on the patient's body surface image, so as to locate the marking points of the marking module for multiple consecutive patient body surface images, determine the dynamic position change information of the marking points, convert the vertical displacement in the dynamic position change information of the marking points into a respiratory waveform on the time axis to obtain the target respiratory state change information of the patient, and import the target respiratory change state information into the corresponding preset respiratory specification paradigm to check whether the target respiratory state change information meets the radiotherapy treatment conditions; if the target respiratory state change information meets the radiotherapy treatment conditions, recommend the corresponding respiratory gating window threshold, and dynamically control the output of the radiotherapy beam according to the respiratory gating window threshold.

[0029] In a third aspect, the present application discloses a radiotherapy beam output control device, including:

[0030] An information acquisition module, which is used to acquire the spatial position information of the patient's body surface marking module in real time; wherein, the marking module includes a fluorescent marking ball, and the fluorescent marking ball is fixed in the significant respiratory movement area of the patient.

[0031] A processing module, which is used to perform information conversion processing on the spatial position information in the time axis direction to obtain the target respiratory state change information of the patient, and import the target respiratory change state information into the corresponding preset respiratory specification paradigm to check whether the target respiratory state change information meets the radiotherapy treatment conditions.

[0032] A beam control module, which is used to recommend the corresponding respiratory gating window threshold if the target respiratory state change information meets the radiotherapy treatment conditions, and dynamically control the output of the radiotherapy beam according to the respiratory gating window threshold.

[0033] In a fourth aspect, the present application discloses an electronic device, including:

[0034] A memory, which is used to store a computer program;

[0035] A processor, which is used to execute the computer program to implement the steps of the radiotherapy beam output control method disclosed above.

[0036] In a fifth aspect, the present application discloses a computer-readable storage medium, which is used to store a computer program; wherein, when the computer program is executed by a processor, the steps of the radiotherapy beam output control method disclosed above are implemented.

[0037] It can be seen that the present application discloses a method for controlling the output of radiotherapy beams, including: obtaining the spatial position information of the patient body surface marking module in real time; wherein, the marking module includes fluorescent marking balls, and the fluorescent marking balls are fixed in the significant respiratory movement area of the patient; performing information conversion processing on the spatial position information in the time axis direction to obtain the target respiratory state change information of the patient, and importing the target respiratory change state information into the corresponding preset respiratory standard paradigm to check whether the target respiratory state change information meets the radiotherapy treatment conditions; if the target respiratory state change information meets the radiotherapy treatment conditions, recommend the corresponding respiratory gating window threshold, and dynamically control the output of the radiotherapy beam according to the respiratory gating window threshold. Thus, by using the marking module for breathing patients and utilizing the reflection characteristics of the infrared light source and the fluorescent marking balls, it is possible to accurately track the body surface undulations caused by breathing, precisely reflect the details of respiratory movement, convert the complex body surface movement into quantifiable respiratory state change information, facilitate the subsequent respiratory gating analysis by the algorithm, then import the target respiratory change state information into the individualized respiratory standard paradigm of the patient, quantify the corresponding indicators of the target respiratory change state information, check whether the target respiratory state change information meets the radiotherapy treatment conditions, and then select whether to output the radiotherapy beam. In this way, the beam trigger in the non-compliant state is automatically blocked, avoiding misirradiation of healthy tissues and achieving precise radiotherapy. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0038] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention or the prior art, the following will briefly introduce the drawings required for use in the description of the embodiments or the prior art. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are only the embodiments of the present invention. For those of ordinary skill in the art, without creative efforts, other drawings can also be obtained according to the provided drawings.

[0039] Figure 1 It is a flowchart of a method for controlling the output of radiotherapy beams disclosed in the present application;

[0040] Figure 2 It is a flowchart of a specific method for controlling the output of radiotherapy beams disclosed in the present application;

[0041] Figure 3 It is a framework diagram of a system for controlling the output of radiotherapy beams disclosed in the present application;

[0042] Figure 4 It is a schematic structural diagram of a device for controlling the output of radiotherapy beams disclosed in the present application;

[0043] Figure 5 It is a structural diagram of an electronic device disclosed in the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

[0044] Next, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present application. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, rather than all the embodiments. All other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art based on the embodiments of the present invention without creative efforts shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

[0045] In the era of precise radiotherapy, the physiological movement of the patient's organs (such as breathing) will cause the target area to move, resulting in poor radiotherapy results. In recent years, respiratory gating technology has emerged, which can truly reproduce the shape of the tumor and reflect the movement law of the tumor. However, in clinical applications, when hospital physicians use the respiratory gating system to manage the patient's respiratory movement, due to the low degree of automation of the current respiratory gating system, when hospital physicians use the respiratory gating system to conduct respiratory training for patients or assist in precise radiotherapy, in the face of problems such as inconsistent respiratory frequencies and excessive amplitude changes in patients, on-site manual intervention by physicians is required. This often requires on-site physicians to focus their full attention on visually monitoring the changes in the patient's respiratory curve. While the work efficiency is low, it brings a great burden to hospital physicians, thus affecting the implementation of precise radiotherapy. In addition, due to the current degree of automation of the respiratory gating system, the use of the respiratory gating system is highly dependent on the experience and level of on-site physicians. The gating window thresholds selected by different physicians on-site are inconsistent, and the selected gating trigger phase ranges cannot be unified, resulting in low quality of respiratory gating-assisted precise radiotherapy. In addition, the system delay of the respiratory gating system cannot be effectively quantified, which leads to doubts about the feasibility of respiratory gating-assisted precise radiotherapy by some people, seriously affecting the effective implementation of precise radiotherapy.

[0046] Therefore, the present invention provides a radiotherapy beam output control solution, which can automatically monitor the respiratory change state and then achieve precise control of the radiotherapy beam output.

[0047] Referring to Figure 1 As shown, an embodiment of the present application discloses a radiotherapy beam output control method, including:

[0048] Step S11: Obtain the spatial position information of the patient's body surface marking module in real time; wherein, the marking module includes a fluorescent marking ball, and the fluorescent marking ball is fixed in the significant respiratory movement area of the patient.

[0049] In this embodiment, a marking module containing a number of fluorescent marker balls is fixed on the chest or upper abdomen of the patient; wherein, the distribution of each of the fluorescent marker balls matches the breathing direction; an optical camera is used to continuously capture the surface image of the patient including the marking module in real time to obtain the spatial position information of each of the fluorescent marker balls. It can be understood that the marking module is placed in the upper abdomen or chest area of the patient, and the optical camera projects infrared rays onto this area. Then, the fluorescent markers on the marking module reflect part of the infrared light back, which is received by the optical camera, and corresponding optical imaging is performed to obtain the surface image of the patient, and further obtain the spatial position information of the marking module; the marking module is specifically a rigid body composed of irregularly distributed special fluorescent marker balls.

[0050] Step S12: Perform information conversion processing on the spatial position information in the time axis direction to obtain the target respiratory state change information of the patient, and import the target respiratory change state information into the corresponding preset respiratory standard paradigm to check whether the target respiratory state change information meets the radiotherapy treatment conditions.

[0051] In this embodiment, a preset image processing algorithm is used to locate the marking points of each of the fluorescent marker balls in multiple consecutive surface images of the patient to determine the dynamic position change information of the marking points; the vertical displacement in the dynamic position change information of the marking points is converted into a respiratory waveform on the time axis to obtain the target respiratory state change information of the patient. It can be understood that the image processing module performs filtering, enhancement, contour extraction, and feature point recognition processing on multiple consecutive surface images of the patient obtained by shooting, and then converts the included image information into the spatial coordinate position information of the rigid body constructed by the marking module. Then, the vertical displacement in the spatial coordinate position information is converted into the patient's respiratory state change information on the time axis, that is, the respiratory waveform. This respiratory waveform contains quantization signals such as respiratory amplitude, respiratory frequency, and respiratory phase. The specific conversion process of the spatial coordinate position information is as follows: Denoise and enhance the contrast of the images captured by the optical camera to ensure that the fluorescent marker balls are clearly recognizable. Locate the fluorescent marker balls through an edge detection algorithm and calculate their spatial coordinates. Convert the vertical displacement of the marking points used to reflect respiratory fluctuations into a respiratory waveform (amplitude-time curve) on the time axis.

[0052] In this embodiment, before importing the target respiratory change state information into the corresponding preset respiratory standard paradigm, the following steps are further included: obtaining the reference respiratory state change information of the same patient, and using the timestamp synchronization protocol to perform time-phase alignment processing on the reference respiratory state change information and the historical real-time respiratory state change information of the same patient, so as to obtain the processed historical real-time respiratory state change information; wherein, the reference respiratory state change information includes respiratory amplitude, respiratory frequency, inspiration phase information, and expiration phase information; calculating a respiratory rhythm stability parameter according to the processed historical real-time respiratory state change information; wherein, the respiratory rhythm stability parameter includes the mean respiratory cycle and the coefficient of variation of respiratory frequency; analyzing the displacement difference between the peak and the trough in the processed historical real-time respiratory state change information, and statistically calculating the amplitude volatility of the processed historical real-time respiratory state change information based on the displacement difference; detecting and obtaining the baseline fluctuation information of the processed historical real-time respiratory state change information; setting a target respiratory gating window range according to the respiratory rhythm stability parameter, the amplitude volatility, and the baseline fluctuation information, so as to construct the preset respiratory standard paradigm of the current patient. It can be understood that when importing the reference respiratory waveform (reference respiratory state change information) during the positioning of 4DCT (4-Dimensional Computed Tomography) of the same patient, the dynamic time warping algorithm is used to align the time phases of the historical real-time respiratory state change information and the reference respiratory waveform, so as to obtain the processed historical real-time respiratory state change information. Among them, the historical real-time respiratory state change information can be the waveform information of an automatically picked respiratory cycle of the current patient during the current detection process. According to the peak detection algorithm, the adjacent peak intervals in the processed historical real-time respiratory state change information are identified to calculate the corresponding respiratory frequency, determine the respiratory cycle and the mean respiratory cycle, and then the coefficient of variation of respiratory frequency is obtained according to the ratio information of the standard deviation of respiratory frequency to the mean value of respiratory frequency; calculate the vertical displacement difference between the peak and the trough in the processed historical real-time respiratory state change information to obtain the respiratory amplitude. Analyze the drift degree of the processed historical real-time respiratory state change information on the time axis to obtain the baseline fluctuation information. Based on all the above parameters and the corresponding threshold conditions, set the target respiratory gating window range to construct the preset respiratory standard paradigm of the current patient.

[0053] In this embodiment, the spatial position information is converted according to the above information conversion method to obtain the target respiratory state change information, and the target respiratory state change information is imported into the preset respiratory standard paradigm of the same patient constructed, and whether the target respiratory state change information meets the radiotherapy treatment conditions is checked through the preset respiratory standard paradigm.

[0054] Specifically, check whether the target respiratory amplitude, target expiration phase, target inspiration phase, and target respiratory frequency variation coefficient in the target respiratory state change information respectively meet the threshold ranges in the target respiratory gating window range of the preset respiratory specification paradigm; if the target respiratory state change information all meets the threshold ranges, determine that the target respiratory state change information meets the radiotherapy treatment conditions; if not, determine that the target respiratory state change information does not meet the radiotherapy treatment conditions. It can be understood that due to the setting of the threshold ranges, when the parameters in the target respiratory state change information respectively fall within the corresponding ranges, it can be determined that the current target respiratory state change information meets the radiotherapy treatment conditions, and the target respiratory state change information that meets the radiotherapy treatment conditions is used as the historical real-time respiratory state change information in the next time step, and jumps to the construction process of the foregoing respiratory specification paradigm to provide real-time feedback and optimize the respiratory specification paradigm of the same patient to adapt to long-term changes in the respiratory state.

[0055] In this embodiment, after determining that the target respiratory state change information does not meet the radiotherapy treatment conditions, it further includes: stopping the output of the radiotherapy beam, adjusting the current respiratory state of the patient, and jumping to execute the step of real-time obtaining the spatial position information of the patient body surface marking module until the target respiratory state change information meets the radiotherapy treatment conditions. It can be understood that after determining that the target respiratory state change information does not meet the radiotherapy treatment conditions, immediately stop the output of the radiotherapy beam, adjust the current respiratory state of the patient, and re-jump to execute the step of real-time obtaining the spatial position information of the patient body surface marking module. Realize automatic adjustment and acquisition of respiratory information.

[0056] Step S13: If the target respiratory state change information meets the radiotherapy treatment conditions, recommend the corresponding respiratory gating window threshold, and dynamically control the output of the radiotherapy beam according to the respiratory gating window threshold.

[0057] In this embodiment, if the target respiratory state change information meets the radiotherapy treatment conditions, determine and recommend the corresponding respiratory gating window threshold from the threshold ranges according to the current gating mode and respiratory change information, and dynamically control the output of the radiotherapy beam according to the respiratory gating window threshold and beam duty cycle information.

[0058] Such as Figure 2As shown, the present invention provides a specific radiotherapy beam output control method. Specifically, when a physician selects to perform respiratory gating assistance during the radiotherapy process, the patient is placed on the treatment couch of the radiotherapy equipment for on-site positioning. After positioning, the system marker module is placed in the upper abdomen or chest area of the patient, and it is ensured that the marker module is within the monitoring field of view of the system optical camera, and the respiratory movement of the patient in the area where the marker module is placed will cause a relatively significant change in the spatial position of the marker module. After the marker module is placed, the system optical camera will collect the image information of the marker module on the patient's surface, and this image will be transmitted through a 10 Gigabit Ethernet network to the computer workstation where the system think tank processing unit is located. The image processing module in the workstation will perform a series of processes on this image, such as filtering, enhancement, contour extraction, feature point recognition, etc. Then, the change in the spatial position information of the marker module will be extracted. Then, this position change is displayed as the change information of the respiratory curve waveform of the patient on the time axis. Then, the system think tank processing unit will automatically pick up a segment of periodic respiratory curve change information, automatically analyze and identify the respiratory cycle frequency information of the patient. Similarly, the think tank processing unit will automatically pick up this segment of periodic respiratory curve change information for analysis and processing of the patient's respiratory amplitude information, and automatically identify the respiratory baseline information adapted to this patient, and combine the above-mentioned respiratory think tank analysis to form a patient respiratory standard paradigm.Then the system will import the respiratory waveform file output when the patient undergoes positioning 4DCT as the reference respiratory curve, and then automatically align and perform fitting analysis on the real-time collected patient respiratory curve and the reference respiratory curve under the control of the think tank processing unit. When the fitting deviation threshold is within the threshold set by the respiratory standard paradigm (if not satisfied, continuous training is required. If it still cannot be satisfied within a certain period, the on-site physician will be prompted whether to adjust the threshold or whether gating assistance cannot be performed for this patient's current treatment, and it is recommended to go back for respiratory training), the system will automatically convert the respiratory management mode from the respiratory training mode to the radiotherapy respiratory tracking mode. Then, the think tank processing unit will perform intelligent gating window recommendation according to the identified patient baseline information, the gating mode selected on-site (amplitude gating / phase gating / DIBH (Deep Inspiration BreathHold) gating), and the beam duty cycle configuration commonly used by the physician. During radiotherapy, when the patient's respiration is within this gating window, the system will automatically control the interface processing unit to drive the beam gating trigger IO (Input Output) channel to output the beam gating trigger signal. Then, after receiving this hardware signal, the treatment device will control the corresponding beam output management. When the patient's respiration deviates from this gating window area, the treatment device will be controlled to stop the beam output; moreover, during the treatment process, the respiratory motion management system will perform real-time analysis on the stability of the patient's respiratory cycle frequency and the quality of the patient's respiratory amplitude signal in combination with the patient's respiratory standard paradigm. If the patient's respiratory frequency is inconsistent before and after or the respiratory amplitude at the same phase is severely deviated, the system will control the interface processing unit to control the corresponding IO channel to output / stop the corresponding signal. If it is monitored that the patient coughs only once, the system will automatically stop the output of the gating beam trigger signal and control the treatment device to pause the beam output; for another example, if the system monitors that the patient coughs continuously or the number of coughs is greater than a certain set number, the system will control the interface processing unit to drive the interlock IO channel to output the interlock hardware signal, and then control the treatment device to perform the termination of the beam output process.

[0059] In addition, the system provides a system delay test function. The user can connect the configured simulated breathing motion device (optional) to the interface processing circuit of the computer workstation, place the marker module on the simulated breathing motion device (whose spatial position changes as the device moves) and within the field of view of the system optical camera. When the user clicks the one-key system delay analysis, the system will drive the output of the simulated breathing motion control IO signal through the interface processing unit, and record this information with the system timestamp T1 in the log. When the simulated breathing motion device moves to the highest limit position of the device movement, this limit information is collected into the system through the corresponding IO channel of the system interface control unit and recorded with the system timestamp T2. And in this mode, the system automatically sets the highest limit position as the gating beam trigger output point. When the system optical camera detects the highest point of the simulated breathing amplitude within its field of view, the system automatically records the information of this point with the timestamp T3. And when the system drives the IO port to output the gating beam trigger signal, it is also recorded with the system timestamp T4. Then the system will automatically retrieve the above timestamp information and obtain the corresponding system delay quantization conclusion information T = T4 - T2.

[0060] It can be seen that the present application discloses a radiotherapy beam output control method, including: obtaining the spatial position information of the patient body surface marker module in real time; wherein, the marker module includes a fluorescent marker ball, and the fluorescent marker ball is fixed on the significant breathing motion area of the patient; performing information conversion processing on the spatial position information in the time axis direction to obtain the target breathing state change information of the patient, and importing the target breathing change state information into the corresponding preset breathing standard paradigm to check whether the target breathing state change information meets the radiotherapy treatment conditions; if the target breathing state change information meets the radiotherapy treatment conditions, recommend the corresponding breathing gating window threshold, and dynamically control the output of the radiotherapy beam according to the breathing gating window threshold. Thus, by using the marker module for breathing patients and utilizing the reflection characteristics of the infrared light source and the fluorescent marker ball, it is possible to accurately track the body surface undulations caused by breathing, precisely reflect the details of breathing motion. By converting the complex body surface motion into quantifiable breathing state change information, it is convenient for the algorithm to perform subsequent breathing gating analysis. Then, the target breathing change state information is imported into the patient's individualized breathing standard paradigm, quantifying the corresponding indicators of the target breathing change state information, checking whether the target breathing state change information meets the radiotherapy treatment conditions, and then selecting whether to output the radiotherapy beam. In this way, the beam trigger in the non-compliant state is automatically blocked, avoiding misirradiation of healthy tissues and achieving precise radiotherapy.

[0061] Refer to Figure 3 As shown, the present invention discloses a radiotherapy beam output control system, including a visual sampling unit and a think tank processing unit, wherein,

[0062] The visual acquisition unit includes an optical camera and a marking module, and is used to continuously capture the surface image of the patient including the marking module in real time through the optical camera, and send the surface image of the patient to the think tank processing unit through a 10 Gigabit Ethernet;

[0063] The think tank processing unit includes a computer workstation and a control program installed on the computer workstation, and is used to receive the surface image of the patient through the computer workstation, and control the control program to sequentially perform image filtering, image enhancement, contour extraction, and feature point recognition on the surface image of the patient, so as to perform marking point positioning on the marking module of multiple consecutive surface images of the patient, so as to determine the dynamic position change information of the marking point, convert the vertical displacement in the dynamic position change information of the marking point into a respiratory waveform on the time axis, so as to obtain the target respiratory state change information of the patient, and import the target respiratory change state information into the corresponding preset respiratory standard paradigm to check whether the target respiratory state change information meets the radiotherapy treatment conditions; if the target respiratory state change information meets the radiotherapy treatment conditions, recommend the corresponding respiratory gating window threshold, and dynamically control the output of the radiotherapy beam according to the respiratory gating window threshold.

[0064] It can be understood that when the radiotherapy beam output control system of the present invention is selected to perform respiratory gating assistance during the radiotherapy process, the system will first perform self-test on the system interface functions to ensure that the gating trigger interface, beam status acquisition interface, interlock interface between the treatment device and the system, etc. are all functioning normally and effectively. After determining that each interface is normal and effective, the working processes of each unit are as follows:

[0065] The visual sampling unit mainly consists of an optical camera and a marking module. The optical camera can be a single-eye optical camera or a multi-eye optical camera. The optical camera includes an infrared light source, a high-definition camera, and corresponding filters in front of the lens. The marking module is a rigid body composed of irregularly distributed special fluorescent marking balls. Usually, the marking module is placed in the upper abdomen or chest area of the patient. The optical camera projects infrared rays onto this area, and then the fluorescent markings on the marking module reflect part of the infrared light back, which is received by the optical camera and corresponding optical imaging is performed, so as to obtain the spatial position image information of the marking module;

[0066] The think tank processing unit mainly consists of a high-performance computer workstation, a display, and a control program installed on the workstation. Usually, the spatial position image information of the marker module obtained by the visual sampling unit is sent to the computer workstation via a 10 Gigabit Ethernet. The image processing module in the control program on the workstation will process the image information, such as filtering, enhancing, contour extraction, and feature point recognition, and then convert the image information into the spatial coordinate position information of the rigid body constructed by the marker module. Then, this spatial coordinate position information is displayed as the respiratory state change information of the patient on the time axis. The waveform intelligent processing module in the think tank processing unit will automatically pick up the waveform information of a respiratory cycle, analyze the patient's respiratory frequency cycle information and respiratory amplitude information, establish a respiratory standard paradigm corresponding to the patient ID, and then the subsequent real-time respiratory state change information will be imported into this respiratory standard paradigm for comparison and analysis. Then, corresponding analyses will be made on the respiratory cycle stability and respiratory signal amplitude performance, and quantitative conclusion information will be given. In addition, this respiratory standard paradigm can perform deviation verification with a certain weight ratio based on the reference respiratory waveform information output by the imported positioning 4DCT. When the patient is positioned at the radiotherapy device and before radiotherapy, the on-site physician imports the reference respiratory waveform information output by the positioning 4DCT end. The system collects the real-time respiratory waveform image of the current patient and automatically aligns and fits the waveforms. When the fitting degree meets the threshold setting of the respiratory standard paradigm, the system will automatically switch from the patient's respiratory training mode to the radiotherapy respiratory tracking mode. In this mode, the system will automatically recommend the gating window threshold information in combination with the beam duty cycle information set by the physician (give an optimal gating window based on the gating mode and the patient's respiratory signal quality analysis). After the on-site physician confirms it is correct, it will directly assist in respiratory gating for radiotherapy. When the patient's respiratory amplitude or phase (depending on the selected gating mode) is within the gating window range, the system controls the treatment device to output the beam. When it leaves the gating window range, the system controls the treatment device to stop beam output. During the treatment process, if the system monitors that the patient's respiratory waveform information seriously deviates from the respiratory standard paradigm, it will pause the beam or directly interlock to terminate the beam output according to the actual situation (for example, if the patient coughs once and the amplitude exceeds the threshold set by the respiratory standard paradigm, the beam output will be paused; if the patient coughs continuously, such as more than 3 times, the system will consider that this respiratory gating-assisted radiotherapy has no meaning to continue and will directly control the radiotherapy device to terminate the beam output);

[0067] The interface processing unit mainly consists of the IO input / output circuit hardware interface integrated on the motherboard of the computer workstation and the software interface used for communicating with the treatment device. Usually, the system controls the state switching of the gating trigger signal, the acquisition of the interlock signal state switching between the treatment device and the gating system, the acquisition of the beam state information of the treatment device, and the control acquisition of the motion state information of the simulated breathing motion device by controlling the level change of a certain channel of the IO input / output circuit; the system conducts heartbeat interaction, patient information interaction, process control, etc. with the treatment device through the software interface; in addition, the interface processing unit can perform self-test of the interface function under the control of the system program (such as the effective light indication of the gating trigger signal / interlock signal output and the independent IO channel collects and analyzes and records this signal; another example is that in the case of the absence of the radiotherapy device, the simulation input acquisition test of the beam state information, and the simulated beam state information pulse signal is given through other independent IO channels and this signal is input into the beam state information acquisition channel), to ensure the stable and effective interface function of the respiratory gating system.

[0068] The delay analysis unit mainly consists of some user mode switching control interface programs, some system delay analysis programs, and system operation process recording programs. Usually, when the user switches to the function verification interface and clicks to obtain the system delay analysis with one key, the system will control the selected simulated breathing motion device to start moving, move to the highest limit position, and collect the starting and limit information in real time with the system timestamp recorded. And when the simulated breathing motion device carrying the marking module is monitored at the highest point within the field of view by the optical camera, the system will drive the corresponding channel of the IO input / output board to output the gating trigger signal, and this information will also be recorded with the system timestamp. The system will automatically extract the above timestamps and calculate the difference between the two to give a quantifiable system delay analysis result; in addition, the port for controlling the selected simulated breathing motion device to start moving, the gating trigger control interface, and the simulated breathing motion limit acquisition signal are all independent IO channels, and can be imported into a third-party oscilloscope for observation and recording. In this way, the time difference between the two intercepted by the oscilloscope can also be used as the quantitative conclusion of the system delay. By quantifying the system delay, it solves problems such as distrust and suspicion in respiratory gating-assisted precise radiotherapy caused by fuzzy system delay, and helps to promote the implementation of respiratory gating-assisted precise radiotherapy.

[0069] In this way, the system can automatically identify the patient's respiratory cycle frequency information, respiratory amplitude information, and respiratory baseline information. During the pre-radiotherapy breathing training, it will automatically fit with the 4DCT breathing waveform curve during positioning. After passing, it will automatically switch to the treatment tracking mode. Under gated treatment tracking, the system will intelligently recommend the gated window. When the patient's breathing is within the gated window area, the system will control the treatment device to output the beam of the device. Otherwise, it will stop the beam output of the device. During the treatment process, if the patient's breathing frequency is disordered and the cycles before and after are inconsistent or the respiratory amplitude deviation is too large, the system will automatically trigger an interlock to terminate the beam, which avoids the physician having to closely monitor the changes in the breathing curve with high concentration on-site, effectively improves the on-site work efficiency, more effectively ensures the patient's breathing stability, effectively guarantees the implementation of gated radiotherapy, and thus guarantees the implementation of precise radiotherapy.

[0070] Referring to Figure 4 as shown, the present invention also correspondingly discloses a radiotherapy beam output control device, including:

[0071] An information acquisition module 11, configured to acquire the spatial position information of the patient's body surface marking module in real time; wherein, the marking module includes a fluorescent marking ball, and the fluorescent marking ball is fixed in a significant area of the patient's respiratory movement;

[0072] A processing module 12, configured to perform information conversion processing on the spatial position information in the time axis direction to obtain the target respiratory state change information of the patient, and import the target respiratory change state information into the corresponding preset respiratory specification paradigm to check whether the target respiratory state change information meets the radiotherapy treatment conditions;

[0073] A beam control module 13, configured to recommend the corresponding respiratory gating window threshold if the target respiratory state change information meets the radiotherapy treatment conditions, and dynamically control the output of the radiotherapy beam according to the respiratory gating window threshold.

[0074] It can be seen that the present application discloses obtaining the spatial position information of the patient body surface marking module in real time; wherein, the marking module includes a fluorescent marking ball, and the fluorescent marking ball is fixed on the significant area of the patient's respiratory movement; the spatial position information is processed by information conversion in the time axis direction to obtain the target respiratory state change information of the patient, and the target respiratory change state information is imported into the corresponding preset respiratory standard paradigm to check whether the target respiratory state change information meets the radiotherapy treatment conditions; if the target respiratory state change information meets the radiotherapy treatment conditions, the corresponding respiratory gating window threshold is recommended, and the output of the radiotherapy beam is dynamically controlled according to the respiratory gating window threshold. Thus, by using the marking module for respiratory patients and utilizing the reflection characteristics of the infrared light source and the fluorescent marking ball, the surface undulation caused by respiration can be tracked with high precision, the details of respiratory movement can be accurately reflected, and by converting the complex surface movement into quantifiable respiratory state change information, it is convenient for the algorithm to perform subsequent respiratory gating analysis. Then, the target respiratory change state information is imported into the patient's individualized respiratory standard paradigm to quantify the corresponding indicators of the target respiratory change state information, check whether the target respiratory state change information meets the radiotherapy treatment conditions, and then select whether to output the radiotherapy beam. In this way, the beam trigger in the non-compliant state is automatically blocked, the healthy tissue is avoided from being irradiated by mistake, and precise radiotherapy is achieved.

[0075] Furthermore, the embodiment of the present application also discloses an electronic device, Figure 5 which is the structural diagram of the electronic device 20 shown according to an exemplary embodiment, and the content in the figure cannot be regarded as any limitation on the scope of use of the present application.

[0076] Figure 5 This is the structural schematic diagram of an electronic device 20 provided by the embodiment of the present application. The electronic device 20 may specifically include: at least one processor 21, at least one memory 22, a power supply 23, a communication interface 24, an input / output interface 25, and a communication bus 26. Among them, the memory 22 is used to store a computer program, and the computer program is loaded and executed by the processor 21 to implement the relevant steps in the radiotherapy beam output control method disclosed in any of the foregoing embodiments. In addition, the electronic device 20 in this embodiment may specifically be an electronic computer.

[0077] In this embodiment, the power supply 23 is used to provide working voltage for each hardware device on the electronic device 20; the communication interface 24 can create a data transmission channel between the electronic device 20 and external devices, and the communication protocol it follows is any communication protocol applicable to the technical solution of the present application, and no specific limitation is imposed on it here; the input / output interface 25 is used to obtain external input data or output data to the outside, and its specific interface type can be selected according to specific application needs, and no specific limitation is made here.

[0078] Among them, the processor 21 may include one or more processing cores, such as a 4-core processor, an 8-core processor, etc. The processor 21 may be implemented in at least one hardware form of DSP (Digital Signal Processing), FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array), or PLA (Programmable Logic Array). The processor 21 may also include a main processor and a coprocessor. The main processor is a processor used to process data in the wake state, also known as the CPU (Central Processing Unit); the coprocessor is a low-power processor used to process data in the standby state. In some embodiments, the processor 21 may be integrated with a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), and the GPU is responsible for rendering and drawing the content to be displayed on the display screen. In some embodiments, the processor 21 may further include an AI (Artificial Intelligence) processor, and the AI processor is used to process computational operations related to machine learning.

[0079] In addition, the memory 22, as a carrier for resource storage, may be a read-only memory, a random access memory, a disk, or an optical disc, etc. The resources stored thereon may include an operating system 221, a computer program 222, etc., and the storage method may be temporary storage or permanent storage.

[0080] Among them, the operating system 221 is used to manage and control each hardware device and the computer program 222 on the electronic device 20, so as to implement the operation and processing of the massive data 223 in the memory 22 by the processor 21. It may be Windows Server, Netware, Unix, Linux, etc. In addition to the computer program that can be used to complete the radiotherapy beam output control method executed by the electronic device 20 disclosed in any of the foregoing embodiments, the computer program 222 may further include a computer program that can be used to complete other specific tasks. The data 223 may include not only the data transmitted by external devices received by the electronic device, but also the data collected by its own input / output interface 25, etc.

[0081] Furthermore, the present application also discloses a computer-readable storage medium for storing a computer program; wherein, when the computer program is executed by a processor, the radiotherapy beam output control method disclosed above is implemented. For the specific steps of this method, reference may be made to the corresponding content disclosed in the foregoing embodiments, and details will not be repeated here.

[0082] In this specification, the various embodiments are described in a progressive manner. Each embodiment focuses on the differences from other embodiments. For the same or similar parts among the embodiments, reference can be made to each other. For the devices disclosed in the embodiments, since they correspond to the methods disclosed in the embodiments, the description is relatively simple. For the relevant parts, reference can be made to the description in the method section.

[0083] Those skilled in the art can further realize that the units and algorithm steps of each example described in combination with the embodiments disclosed in this article can be implemented by electronic hardware, computer software, or a combination of the two. To clearly illustrate the interchangeability of hardware and software, the components and steps of each example have been generally described according to functions in the above description. Whether these functions are executed in a hardware or software manner depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Those skilled in the art can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered to exceed the scope of this application. The steps of the methods or algorithms described in combination with the embodiments disclosed in this article can be directly implemented by hardware, software modules executed by a processor, or a combination of the two. The software modules can be placed in a random access memory (RAM), internal memory, read-only memory (ROM), electrically programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), registers, hard disks, removable disks, CD-ROM (Compact Disc-Read Only Memory), or any other form of storage medium well-known in the technical field.

[0084] Finally, it should also be noted that in this article, relational terms such as "first" and "second" are only used to distinguish one entity or operation from another entity or operation, and do not necessarily require or imply any actual relationship or order between these entities or operations. Moreover, the term "comprising", "including" or any other variant thereof is intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, so that a process, method, article or device including a series of elements not only includes those elements, but also includes other elements not expressly listed, or also includes elements inherent to such process, method, article or device. Without further limitation, an element defined by the statement "including a..." does not exclude the existence of additional identical elements in the process, method, article or device including the said element.

[0085] The above has introduced the solution provided by the present invention in detail. Specific examples are used in this article to elaborate on the principle and implementation manner of the present invention. The description of the above embodiments is only used to help understand the method and its core idea of the present invention; at the same time, for those of ordinary skill in the art, according to the idea of the present invention, there will be changes in the specific implementation manner and application scope. In summary, the content of this specification should not be construed as a limitation to the present invention.

Claims

1. A radiotherapy beam output control method, characterized in that Including: Obtaining the spatial position information of the patient body surface marking module in real time; wherein, the marking module includes fluorescent marking balls, and the fluorescent marking balls are fixed in the significant respiratory movement area of the patient; Performing information conversion processing on the spatial position information in the time axis direction to obtain the target respiratory state change information of the patient, and importing the target respiratory change state information into the corresponding preset respiratory standard paradigm to check whether the target respiratory state change information meets the radiotherapy treatment conditions; If the target respiratory state change information meets the radiotherapy treatment conditions, recommend the corresponding respiratory gating window threshold, and dynamically control the output of the radiotherapy beam according to the respiratory gating window threshold.

2. The radiotherapy beam output control method according to claim 1, wherein The obtaining the spatial position information of the patient body surface marking module in real time includes: Fixing a marking module containing a plurality of fluorescent marking balls on the chest or upper abdomen of the patient; wherein, the distribution of each fluorescent marking ball matches the respiratory direction; Using an optical camera to continuously capture the patient body surface image including the marking module in real time to obtain the spatial position information of each fluorescent marking ball.

3. The radiotherapy beam output control method according to claim 2, wherein The performing information conversion processing on the spatial position information in the time axis direction to obtain the target respiratory state change information of the patient includes: Using a preset image processing algorithm to perform marking point positioning on each fluorescent marking ball in multiple consecutive patient body surface images to determine the dynamic position change information of the marking points; Converting the vertical displacement in the dynamic position change information of the marking points into a respiratory waveform on the time axis to obtain the target respiratory state change information of the patient.

4. The radiotherapy beam output control method according to claim 2, wherein Before importing the target respiratory change state information into the corresponding preset respiratory standard paradigm, it further includes: Obtaining the reference respiratory state change information of the same patient, and using the timestamp synchronization protocol to perform time phase alignment processing on the reference respiratory state change information and the historical real-time respiratory state change information of the same patient to obtain the processed historical real-time respiratory state change information; wherein, the reference respiratory state change information includes respiratory amplitude, respiratory frequency, inspiratory phase information and expiratory phase information; Calculating a respiratory rhythm stability parameter according to the processed historical real-time respiratory state change information; wherein, the respiratory rhythm stability parameter includes the mean respiratory cycle and the coefficient of variation of respiratory frequency; Analyzing the displacement difference between the wave peaks and wave valleys in the processed historical real-time respiratory state change information, and statistically calculating the amplitude volatility of the processed historical real-time respiratory state change information based on the displacement difference; Detecting and obtaining the baseline fluctuation information of the processed historical real-time respiratory state change information; Setting a target respiratory gating window range according to the respiratory rhythm stability parameter, the amplitude volatility, and the baseline fluctuation information to construct a preset respiratory standard paradigm for the current patient.

5. The radiotherapy beam output control method according to claim 4, wherein The checking whether the target respiratory state change information meets the radiotherapy treatment conditions includes: Checking whether the target respiratory amplitude, target expiratory phase, target inspiratory phase, and target respiratory frequency variation coefficient in the target respiratory state change information respectively meet the threshold ranges in the target respiratory gating window range in the preset respiratory standard paradigm; If all of the target respiratory state change information satisfies the threshold range, it is determined that the target respiratory state change information meets the radiotherapy treatment conditions; Otherwise, it is determined that the target respiratory state change information does not meet the radiotherapy treatment conditions.

6. The radiotherapy beam output control method according to claim 5, wherein After determining that the target respiratory state change information does not meet the radiotherapy treatment conditions, it further includes: Stop the output of the radiotherapy beam, adjust the patient's current respiratory state, and jump to execute the step of obtaining the spatial position information of the patient body surface marking module in real time until the target respiratory state change information meets the radiotherapy treatment conditions.

7. A radiotherapy beam output control system, characterized in that, It includes a visual sampling unit and a think tank processing unit, where The visual acquisition unit includes an optical camera and a marking module, and is used to continuously capture the patient body surface image including the marking module in real time through the optical camera, and send the patient body surface image to the think tank processing unit through a 10 Gigabit Ethernet; The think tank processing unit includes a computer workstation and a control program installed on the computer workstation, and is used to receive the patient body surface image through the computer workstation, and control the control program to sequentially perform image filtering, image enhancement, contour extraction, and feature point recognition on the patient body surface image, so as to perform marker point positioning on the marking module of multiple consecutive patient body surface images, determine the dynamic position change information of the marker points, convert the vertical displacement in the dynamic position change information of the marker points into a respiratory waveform on the time axis to obtain the target respiratory state change information of the patient, and import the target respiratory change state information into the corresponding preset respiratory standard paradigm to check whether the target respiratory state change information meets the radiotherapy treatment conditions; if the target respiratory state change information meets the radiotherapy treatment conditions, recommend the corresponding respiratory gating window threshold, and dynamically control the output of the radiotherapy beam according to the respiratory gating window threshold.

8. A radiotherapy beam output control device, characterized in that, It includes: An information acquisition module, which is used to obtain the spatial position information of the patient body surface marking module in real time; wherein, the marking module includes a fluorescent marker ball, and the fluorescent marker ball is fixed on the significant respiratory movement area of the patient; A processing module, which is used to perform information conversion processing on the spatial position information in the time axis direction to obtain the target respiratory state change information of the patient, and import the target respiratory change state information into the corresponding preset respiratory standard paradigm to check whether the target respiratory state change information meets the radiotherapy treatment conditions; A beam control module, which is used to recommend the corresponding respiratory gating window threshold if the target respiratory state change information meets the radiotherapy treatment conditions, and dynamically control the output of the radiotherapy beam according to the respiratory gating window threshold.

9. An electronic device, characterized in that, It includes: A memory, which is used to store a computer program; A processor, which is used to execute the computer program to implement the steps of the radiotherapy beam output control method according to any one of claims 1 to 6.

10. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, It is used to store a computer program; wherein, when the computer program is executed by a processor, the steps of the radiotherapy beam output control method according to any one of claims 1 to 6 are implemented.

Images