Patent ID: 7442162

Claim:
A method of treatment planning for placement of radioactive seeds in a tumor in a region of a body comprising the steps of: (a) determining a desired dose pattern within the region of the body; (b) pre-calculating a sensitivity function indicating a preferred ranking of seed locations for a range of locations within the region of the body based on dose patterns produced by at least one seed moved throughout the range of different locations in a target region; (c) identifying a seed location outside of an exclusion zone, if any, at a location according to the preferred ranking that best contributes to the desired dose pattern; (d) placing the seed at that location in a treatment plan; (e) determine if the seeds placed in the treatment plan in total provide the desired dose pattern within a predetermined tolerance and if so concluding the treatment planning process with a current treatment plan, and if not proceeding to step (f); and (f) define an exclusion region about the seeds currently located in the treatment plan based on a radiation level produced by the seeds and return to step (c).