Multi-sensor guided radiation therapy

Abstract

Disclosed herein are methods for radiation treatment planning and delivery using sensor data from one or more target sensors. One variation of the radiation treatment planning method includes generating a sensor characterization image based on a sensor characterization probability density function (PDF) of the target sensor and calculating a set of emission filters that can be applied to the sensor image generated from sensor data acquired during a radiation delivery session. Additionally, a variation of the radiation treatment planning method includes generating multiple sensor characterization images based on multiple sensor characterization PDFs of the multiple target sensors and calculating multiple sets of emission filters for each of the multiple target sensors. The emission filters can be used with the sensor image generated from the target sensor data acquired from the one or more target sensors during a radiation delivery session to calculate radiation fluences for delivering therapeutic radiation to the target region.

Claims

[Claim 1] A radiation therapy system, Patient platform and A therapeutic radiation source that is movable to one or more firing positions around the patient platform, A target sensor system equipped with a target sensor that acquires sensor data, A controller that communicates with the therapeutic radiation source and the target sensor system, wherein the controller is configured to calculate a radiation fluence map for delivery to the target region by convolving an image generated from the sensor data relating to the target region with a shift-invariant emission filter, the shift-invariant emission filter is derived from a sensor characterization probability density function (PDF) of the target sensor representing the variability of the sensor data, and the controller is configured to deliver radiation according to the calculated radiation fluence map. A system that includes these features. [Claim 2] The system according to claim 1, wherein the target sensor is a first target sensor, and the target sensor system comprises a second target sensor. [Claim 3] The system according to claim 2, wherein at least one of the first target sensor and the second target sensor is a position sensor configured to be coupled to a patient disposed on the patient platform. [Claim 4] The system according to claim 3, wherein the position sensor is configured to be coupled to a target region. [Claim 5] The system according to claim 3, wherein the position sensor comprises an X-ray source and an X-ray detector disposed opposite the X-ray source and configured to detect the position of an embedded reference point. [Claim 6] The system according to claim 3, wherein the position sensor comprises an optical imaging system configured to track an optical reference point attached to the patient's skin, and the target sensor system further comprises an optical camera configured to detect the position of the optical reference point. [Claim 7] The system according to claim 1, wherein the sensor characterization PDF is a sensor error characterization PDF representing the rate of sensor data error. [Claim 8] The system according to claim 1, wherein the sensor characterization PDF represents the rate of variation in sensor data. [Claim 9] The system according to claim 1, wherein the sensor characterization PDF includes one or more of the following: a 1D plot of sensor data, a 2D plot of sensor data, and / or a 3D plot of sensor data, and a histogram representing the variability of sensor data. [Claim 10] The system according to claim 1, wherein the target sensor comprises a position sensor that acquires position sensor data, and the image generated from the position sensor data is a delta function, a Gaussian function, and / or a truncated Gaussian function centered on the location corresponding to the position sensor data. [Claim 11] The system according to claim 1, wherein the target sensor includes one or more image sensors, the sensor data includes imaging data, and the sensor characterization PDF of the target sensor includes images. [Claim 12] The system according to claim 11, wherein the one or more image sensors include an image sensor selected from the group consisting of a PET sensor, an MRI sensor, and a CT sensor. [Claim 13] The system according to claim 2, wherein the controller is configured to receive a first sensor data reading from the first target sensor and a second sensor data reading from the second target sensor, the shift-invariant emission filter is a first shift-invariant emission filter of the first target sensor, the sensor characterization PDF is a first sensor characterization PDF of the first target sensor, and the controller is further configured to calculate the fluence map for delivery by summing (a) the convolution of the first sensor data image and the first shift-invariant emission filter and (b) the convolution of a second image generated from the second sensor data and a second shift-invariant emission filter derived from the second sensor characterization PDF of the second target sensor. [Claim 14] The system according to claim 13, wherein the first target sensor is a first type of sensor, and the second target sensor is a second type of sensor different from the first type. [Claim 15] The system according to claim 14, wherein the second target sensor is a position sensor. [Claim 16] The system according to claim 14, wherein the first target sensor is a positron annihilation emission path sensor, and the second target sensor is a target region position sensor. [Claim 17] The system according to claim 14, wherein the first target sensor is an image sensor and the second target sensor is a position sensor. [Claim 18] The system according to claim 14, wherein the first target sensor includes at least one of a 3D PET sensor, a 2D X-ray sensor, a projection image sensor, a fluorescence imaging sensor, a CT image sensor, and an MR sensor, and the second target sensor includes a position sensor.

Images