Adaptive Radiation Therapy Planning for Anatomical Change Re-Planning

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing radiation therapy plans fail to adapt to anatomical changes in tumors or surrounding tissues during treatment, risking healthy tissue exposure to high radiation doses due to lack of rapid re-planning procedures.

Innovation Solution

A method for generating adaptive radiation therapy plans by performing image registration, determining regions of interest, and estimating dose distribution in parallel, using processors to rapidly update treatment plans based on sequential scans to account for anatomical changes.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Object-affected harmful factors

If a re-planning procedure is carried out to adapt the treatment plan to anatomical changes, then the safety of healthy tissue is improved, but the treatment time is delayed

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveradiation dose to healthy tissueVSAvoidtreatment delivery time
Core Design Contradiction:
Object-affected harmful factorsVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs image registration, ROI determination, and dose distribution estimation in parallel during the treatment period to prepare the adaptive radiation therapy plan in advance. This preliminary action allows the re-planning to be completed quickly when anatomical changes are detected, reducing the delay while ensuring healthy tissue safety through timely adaptation of the treatment plan.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The system continuously monitors anatomical changes by acquiring images during the treatment course and maintains continuous processing of registration, ROI determination, and dose estimation. This continuous useful action ensures that the treatment plan is constantly adapted to current anatomy without interrupting the treatment flow, thereby minimizing time loss while protecting healthy tissue.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #20Continuity of useful action

2Measurement precision

If image registration, ROI determination, and dose distribution estimation are performed sequentially, then the accuracy of each step is maintained, but the overall processing time increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveanatomical change detection accuracyVSAvoidre-planning speed
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The system segments the re-planning process into three independent modules: image registration, ROI determination, and dose distribution estimation. Each module processes its specific task independently, maintaining the accuracy required for each step while enabling parallel execution to improve overall re-planning speed and productivity.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The system transitions from sequential processing (one dimension of time) to parallel processing by adding a spatial dimension of computation. Multiple processing threads operate simultaneously on different aspects of the re-planning task, effectively increasing productivity without compromising the measurement precision of anatomical change detection.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #17Another dimension (Dimensionality change)

Data Source

PatentEP4106866B1Systems and methods for generating adaptive radiation therapy plan
Publication Date: 2026.02.18 SHANGHAI UNITED IMAGING HEALTHCARE
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AI summary

A method may include obtaining a first image related to one or more target objects generated by a first scan. The method may also include obtaining a first radiation therapy plan for treating the one or more target objects. The method may also include obtaining a second image related to the one or more target objects generated by a second scan. The second scan may be performed later than the first scan. The method may also include determining, based on the first radiation therapy plan, the first image, and the second image, a target radiation therapy plan to treat the one or more target objects. The target radiation therapy plan may be the first radiation therapy plan or a second radiation therapy plan associated with the second image, wherein at least a portion of the determining the target radiation therapy plan may be performed in parallel.