FLASH Therapy Dose Rate Prescription and Mapping System
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current radiation treatment planning systems are unable to effectively prescribe and optimize dose rates, particularly for FLASH radiation therapy, which requires precise control of dose rate to spare healthy tissue and ensure effective tumor treatment.
Innovation Solution
A computing system is developed to generate radiation treatment plans that include prescribing and optimizing dose rates for FLASH therapy. This system allows physicians to select desired dose rate definitions and values, apply prescriptions to specific tissue structures, and display dose rate maps, ensuring accurate delivery of high doses at ultra-high speed.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If conventional radiation treatment planning systems are used, then treatment plans can be developed with standard dose delivery, but they cannot effectively prescribe and optimize dose rates for FLASH therapy
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces dose rate as a new prescription parameter in addition to the conventional dose parameter. The treatment planning system now allows physicians to prescribe both dose and dose rate, with the dose rate defined as the ratio of dose to irradiation time. This parameter change enables FLASH therapy planning by allowing ultra-high dose rate prescriptions (e.g., 40 Gy/s or higher) while maintaining compatibility with existing dose optimization algorithms.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If high doses of radiation are delivered at ultra-high speed for FLASH therapy, then healthy tissue is spared from damage, but precise control of dose rate is required to maintain effective tumor control
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism where the treatment planning system calculates the irradiation time for each beam based on the prescribed dose and dose rate. The system optimizes beam parameters (energy, direction, intensity) to achieve the prescribed dose rate while delivering the required dose to the target. This closed-loop approach ensures that the actual dose rate delivered matches the prescribed ultra-high dose rate, maintaining both healthy tissue sparing and tumor control effectiveness.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts beam parameters during treatment planning to achieve the prescribed dose rate. By making the treatment plan adaptive to dose rate constraints, the system can optimize beam energies, intensities, and delivery sequences to maintain ultra-high dose rates throughout the treatment, ensuring both healthy tissue protection and effective tumor dosing.
3Adaptability or versatility
If dose rate is added as a prescription parameter, then FLASH therapy can be planned, but the system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the treatment planning system multi-functional by enabling it to handle both conventional dose-based planning and FLASH dose rate-based planning through a unified interface. The system can prescribe dose, dose rate, or both simultaneously, and the optimization algorithms automatically adapt to the prescribed parameters. This universal approach avoids creating separate specialized systems while maintaining support for both conventional and FLASH therapies.
Data Source
AI summary
A computing system comprising a central processing unit (CPU), and memory coupled to the CPU and having stored therein instructions that, when executed by the computing system, cause the computing system to execute operations to generate a radiation treatment plan. The operations include accessing a minimum prescribed dose to be delivered into and across the target, determining a number of beams and directions of the beams, and determining a beam energy for each of the beams, wherein the number of beams, the directions of the beams, and the beam energy for each of the beams are determined such that the entire target receives the minimum prescribed dose. The operations further include prescribing a dose rate and optimizing dose rate constraints for FLASH therapy, and displaying a dose rate map of the FLASH therapy.