Radiation Dose Calculation Control Point Consolidation

Solution Overview

Problem

Current radiation therapy treatment planning algorithms require substantial computational resources and time to optimize dose distributions, especially when dealing with complex three-dimensional volumes and multiple angles, limiting the ability to achieve fully optimized plans within practical time constraints.

Innovation Solution

The method involves reducing the number of control points in radiation fields by selecting and consolidating those with smaller impacts on the overall dose distribution into a fewer number of effective control points, thereby reducing computational load and time required for dose distribution calculations.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Manufacturing precision

If the number of control points is increased to improve dose distribution accuracy, then manufacturing precision is improved, but calculation time and computational resources increase

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedose distribution accuracyVSAvoidcalculation time

Core Design Contradiction:

Manufacturing precisionVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts and removes control points that have minimal impact on the overall dose distribution from the treatment plan. By identifying and eliminating these redundant control points, the system reduces the total number of control points requiring calculation while preserving the essential dose distribution characteristics, thus decreasing computational time without significantly compromising accuracy

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent changes the parameter of control point quantity by dynamically adjusting the number of control points based on their individual impact weights. Control points are assigned impact factors that determine their contribution to the dose distribution, and this parameter change allows the system to optimize between accuracy and computational efficiency by including only the most significant control points

Inventive Principle:

Principle #35Parameter changes

2Manufacturing precision

If the number of control points is increased to improve dose distribution accuracy, then manufacturing precision is improved, but device complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedose distribution accuracyVSAvoidsystem complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Manufacturing precisionVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts and removes control points that have minimal impact on the overall dose distribution from the treatment plan. By identifying and eliminating these redundant control points, the system reduces the total number of control points requiring calculation while preserving the essential dose distribution characteristics, thus decreasing computational time without significantly compromising accuracy

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

Instead of starting with a full set of control points and adding more for accuracy, the patent inverts the approach by starting with the assumption that fewer control points are needed and selectively adding only those control points that have significant impact on dose distribution. This inversion simplifies the system while maintaining necessary accuracy

Inventive Principle:

Principle #13The other way round (Inversion)

3Manufacturing precision

If the number of control points is increased to improve dose distribution accuracy, then manufacturing precision is improved, but productivity decreases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedose distribution accuracyVSAvoidtreatment planning efficiency

Core Design Contradiction:

Manufacturing precisionVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts and removes control points that have minimal impact on the overall dose distribution from the treatment plan. By identifying and eliminating these redundant control points, the system reduces the total number of control points requiring calculation while preserving the essential dose distribution characteristics, thus decreasing computational time without significantly compromising accuracy

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent applies partial action by calculating dose distributions for only the most significant control points rather than all possible control points. By focusing computational resources on the critical subset of control points that have the greatest impact on dose accuracy, the system achieves sufficient precision while dramatically improving treatment planning efficiency

Inventive Principle:

Principle #16Partial or excessive action

Data Source

PatentUS8913717B2Dose calculation method for multiple fields

Publication Date: 2014.12.16 VARIAN MEDICAL SYST INT AG

AI summary

Systems and methods for developing a treatment plan for irradiating a treatment volume within a patient are disclosed. In accordance with the present invention, control points used to calculate a dose of radiation delivered to the treatment volume may be combined to result in a smaller number of control points. The smaller number of control points may allow more efficient calculation of dose distributions resulting in a treatment plan that can be delivered to the patient earlier or may allow additional iterations of treatment plan optimization resulting in a more accurate dose distribution being delivered to the patient.