Temporally Feathered Radiation Therapy Sequence
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Solution Overview
Problem
Radiation therapy often results in acute toxicity for healthy tissues due to the lack of recovery time during constant dose delivery, leading to decreased quality of life and potential treatment breaks that compromise tumor control.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of temporally feathered radiation therapy, which involves delivering a radiation dose with a sequence plan that includes one day of high fractional dose and four days of low fractional dose, allowing for recovery time without altering the total radiation dose, using a system with a processor to determine the target volume and organs at risk based on images.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If constant radiation doses are delivered at constant time intervals, then the total radiation dose can be administered efficiently, but the healthy tissue does not have sufficient time to recover from acute toxicity
Solution Approach 1:
The radiation dose is segmented into variable fractional doses delivered on specific days rather than constant doses on all days. The sequence plan divides the treatment into high-dose days and low-dose days, allowing healthy tissue to recover during low-dose periods while still delivering the total required dose to the tumor.
Solution Approach 2:
The treatment follows a periodic pattern with alternating high-dose and low-dose days. This periodic variation in dose intensity allows healthy tissue to recover during low-dose periods while maintaining effective tumor treatment through high-dose periods, resolving the contradiction between treatment efficiency and tissue recovery.
2Reliability
If the radiation dose is increased to improve tumor control, then the effectiveness of tumor treatment increases, but the acute toxicity to healthy tissue also increases
Solution Approach 1:
The sequence plan applies different dose qualities to different time periods: high fractional doses on specific days for maximum tumor control, and low fractional doses on other days to minimize healthy tissue toxicity. This local variation in dose quality allows simultaneous optimization of tumor control and healthy tissue protection.
Solution Approach 2:
The fractional dose parameter is changed between high and low values on different days of the treatment sequence. This parameter variation allows the treatment to achieve high tumor control effectiveness when needed while reducing healthy tissue toxicity during recovery periods.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If the treatment time is extended to allow healthy tissue recovery, then the acute toxicity is reduced, but the overall treatment duration increases
Solution Approach 1:
The treatment maintains continuous useful action by delivering radiation doses on all treatment days without interruption. The sequence plan ensures that even on low-dose days, some radiation is delivered to continue tumor treatment, while high-dose days provide intensive treatment. This continuous action reduces total treatment duration compared to approaches with complete rest periods.
Data Source
AI summary
The effects of acute toxicity from a radiation procedure can be reduced without altering the radiation dose. Instead, a radiation procedure can be weighted to deliver certain amounts of radiation per day through temporal feathering. A target volume for a radiation procedure can be determined based on at least one image. The radiation procedure includes a total dose of radiation to be administered in a time period. An organ outside of the target volume at risk of acute toxicity from the radiation procedure can be determined based on the at least one image. A sequence plan that ensures the total dose of radiation is administered in the time period can be calculated. The sequence plan includes one day of a high fractional dose of radiation and four days of a low fractional dose of radiation. The sequence accomplishes temporal feathering of the radiation therapy procedure.