Adaptive Breath-Hold Radiation Therapy Plan Modification
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Solution Overview
Problem
Patients undergoing breath-hold-based radiation therapy may struggle to maintain the threshold inspiration level required for their treatment plan, leading to suboptimal treatment delivery and increased risk of damage to surrounding tissues.
Innovation Solution
A method is introduced where the breathing capabilities of the patient are assessed before each treatment fraction. If the patient cannot maintain the threshold inspiration level, a modified treatment fraction is generated based on imaging data taken at an achievable inspiration level, allowing the treatment to proceed while ensuring safety and efficacy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If a fixed threshold inspiration level is required for treatment plan delivery, then treatment precision to the planning target volume is improved, but patient compliance and treatment feasibility deteriorate when patients cannot maintain the threshold level
Solution Approach 1:
The treatment system dynamically adapts the inspiration threshold from a fixed value to a patient-specific variable. The system determines each patient's achievable inspiration level and adjusts the treatment plan accordingly, allowing the threshold to change based on individual patient capability rather than remaining static.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the parameter of inspiration threshold from a predetermined fixed value to a patient-determined variable. By assessing each patient's breathing capability and setting the threshold at their achievable level, the system modifies the treatment parameters to match patient physiology while maintaining treatment efficacy.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If deep-inspiration breath-hold treatment is used to spare surrounding normal tissue, then radiation dose to healthy tissue is reduced, but treatment delivery becomes unreliable when patients cannot maintain the required inspiration level
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary assessment of patient breathing capability before treatment delivery. By determining the patient's achievable inspiration level in advance and generating a modified treatment fraction based on that level, the system ensures reliable treatment delivery tailored to the patient's actual capacity rather than attempting to enforce an unachievable threshold.
Solution Approach 2:
The system incorporates feedback from patient breathing capability assessment into treatment plan generation. The achievable inspiration level determined from patient-specific data feeds back into creating a customized treatment fraction, ensuring the treatment is both safe for surrounding tissues and reliable for delivery based on actual patient performance.
3Productivity
If a standardized treatment plan is used for all patients, then treatment workflow efficiency is improved, but individualized treatment optimization deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system maintains a universal treatment plan framework that can be applied to all patients, while incorporating a multi-functionality component that adapts the plan based on individual patient breathing capability. The modified treatment fraction generation process allows the same treatment plan structure to serve multiple patient types with different inspiration levels.
Solution Approach 2:
The treatment delivery is segmented into two phases: a standardized treatment plan framework and a patient-specific modification phase. The system divides the treatment process into the base treatment plan and the customized treatment fraction generated based on individual breathing assessment, allowing efficient standardization with targeted personalization.
Data Source
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AI summary
A system (300) for performing a radiation therapy process, the process including: while a patient is disposed in a first position and maintains a first inspiration level, acquiring (712) a set of projection images of a target volume associated with the patient; based on a treatment planning digital volume associated with the radiation therapy process and the set of projection images, generating (713) a synthetic digital volume that includes the target volume; based on a treatment plan associated with the treatment planning digital volume and on the synthetic digital volume, generating (714) a modified treatment fraction; and while the patient remains in the first position and maintains at least the first inspiration level, performing (715) the modified treatment fraction.