Non-planar beam control for radiation therapy
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current radiation therapy techniques often result in negative effects on body parts outside the target area due to the treatment beam's path, and there is a need to reduce these effects while minimizing treatment time.
Innovation Solution
The technique involves determining a specific arrangement of beam positions that the treatment beam follows, allowing for continuous movement and emission, with the ability to change direction and intensity, to minimize radiation exposure to outside body parts while ensuring adequate exposure to the treatment area.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the treatment beam passes through outside body parts to reach the treatment body part, then the treatment body part receives adequate radiation exposure, but the outside body parts are exposed to harmful radiation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from planar beam arrangements to three-dimensional non-planar arrangements of beam positions. By allowing the treatment beam to move in multiple dimensions and follow curved paths through space, the beam can reach the treatment body part from angles that minimize passage through outside body parts, thereby reducing harmful radiation exposure while maintaining adequate treatment dosage.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements dynamic movement of the treatment beam through continuous change of beam positions along non-planar paths. The beam source moves dynamically in three dimensions, adjusting its trajectory in real-time to optimize the path through the patient's body, reducing static exposure of outside body parts while maintaining effective treatment delivery.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If the treatment beam follows a non-planar arrangement of beam positions, then radiation exposure to outside body parts is reduced, but the complexity of beam control increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent incorporates feedback mechanisms where the system continuously monitors the actual beam positions and compares them with the planned non-planar trajectory. Based on this feedback, the control system makes real-time adjustments to maintain precise beam positioning along the complex three-dimensional path, ensuring that the beam follows the optimal non-planar arrangement while accounting for system variations and external disturbances.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces complex mechanical beam positioning systems with computational methods. Instead of relying on purely mechanical mechanisms to achieve non-planar beam arrangements, the system uses computer-controlled algorithms to calculate and determine the optimal beam positions, substituting mechanical complexity with intelligent software-based control that can more easily manage three-dimensional trajectories.
3Loss of time
If the treatment beam moves continuously to follow non-planar beam positions, then treatment time is reduced, but the precision of beam positioning becomes more difficult to maintain
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements continuous emission of the treatment beam while it follows the non-planar trajectory, eliminating interruptions and maintaining continuous therapeutic action. This continuous operation reduces total treatment time compared to traditional methods that require stopping and repositioning between beam deliveries, while the integrated control system maintains positioning precision throughout the continuous movement.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses computational algorithms and software-based control systems to maintain beam positioning precision during continuous movement, replacing reliance on purely mechanical positioning accuracy. The system calculates and adjusts beam positions in real-time through digital control, enabling maintenance of precision even during continuous dynamic operation and reducing treatment time.
Data Source
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AI summary
The present invention relates to a data processing method for determining control data for controlling beam positions which beam positions describe positions which a treatment beam has or would have if emitted by a beam source, the treatment beam being for treating a treatment body part of a patient, said method constituted to be performed by a computer and comprising the steps of: • providing treatment data which comprise data on a position of the treatment body part; • providing condition data which describe: constraints on the beam positions and/or constraints on positional changes of the beam positions, wherein said constraints allow for at least a part of the beam positions to lie not in a common plane; • providing an arrangement of the beam positions on the basis of the treatment data which arrangement fulfils the condition data; • determining control data for controlling a change of a relative position of the beam source relative to the treatment body part for changing the beam positions and for controlling an emission of the treatment beam from the beam source, the determined control data being constituted to change the beam positions to follow the provided arrangement of the beam positions and to cause continuous emission of the treatment beam during a continuous change of the beam positions while the beam positions follow at least a part of the arrangement.