Patent ID: 9468776
Filing Date: 2016-10-18
CPC Classification: A61N

Claim Text:
1. A computer-based method for generating an improved radiation therapy treatment plan used for a radiation therapy apparatus for a treatment volume of a body having a target and an organ-at-risk, the method comprising: accessing an existing radiation therapy treatment plan for the treatment volume from a memory of a computer, a dose distribution of the existing radiation therapy treatment plan serving as a reference dose distribution, the existing radiation therapy treatment plan being previously created for radiation treatment with the radiation therapy apparatus for the treatment volume of the body of a patient having the target area and the organ-at-risk; and performing machine parameter optimization for machine parameters of a radiation therapy apparatus on the existing radiation therapy treatment plan for the treatment volume with the computer and using the dose distribution of the existing radiation therapy treatment plan as the reference dose distribution, by pursuing an optimization goal to minimize doses to volume units of the organ-at-risk by simulating variation of the machine parameters of the radiation therapy apparatus and calculating a direct relationship between the variation of the machine parameters and a variation of the doses to the volume units, thereby generating the improved radiation therapy treatment plan, wherein at least one optimization function relates the reference dose distribution to a dose distribution of the improved radiation therapy treatment plan throughout the machine parameter optimization, wherein the radiation therapy apparatus delivers radiation according to the improved radiation therapy treatment plan.