Patent ID: 8301228

Claim:
A real-time radiation treatment planning system for use in effecting radiation therapy of a pre-selected anatomical portion of an animal body, comprising: an imaging device configured to generate image data corresponding to the anatomical portion; a radiation delivery device configured to deliver at least one energy emitting source through at least one of a plurality of hollow needles inserted into the anatomical portion; a processor configured to generate, in real-time, a radiation treatment plan for effecting the radiation therapy, wherein the processor is configured to: convert the image data into a three-dimensional image of the anatomical portion; designate a set of multiple sampling points in the three-dimensional image; calculate radiation dose distributions for the sampling points, based on at least one of an actual number and position of at least one of the hollow needles, an actual position of the at least one energy emitting source within the at least one of the hollow needles, or an actual dwell time of the at least one energy emitting source at the position; calculate an objective function indicative of an overall dose distribution in the anatomical portion, based on the radiation dose distributions of the sample points, wherein a number of operations for calculating the objective function is independent of the number of sampling points; and determine, based on the objective function and in real time, the radiation treatment plan reflecting a radiation dose via the at least one of the hollow needles.