Patent ID: 7839974

Claim:
A method for providing a radiation treatment plan in a computer language to a control system, the method comprising: inputting, to the control system, an intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) plan comprising static optimized intensity maps, wherein: the IMRT plan comprises a number and range of arcs, each arc corresponds to a beam angle, and each of the static optimized intensity maps corresponds to the beam angle; inputting, to the control system, geometric constraints for a multi-leaf collimator (MLC); applying, to the control system, a continuous intensity map optimization (CIMO) leaf sequencing algorithm to each of the static optimized intensity maps, using a simulated annealing approach, to produce an intensity modulated arc therapy (IMAT) plan comprising sequenced intensity maps, wherein the CIMO leaf sequencing algorithm comprises: initializing an aperture shape of a sequenced intensity map to match that of a corresponding static optimized intensity map; selecting a random variable for an aperture shape or an aperture weight; if said random variable satisfies the geometric constraints, then computing a sum of absolute differences (SOAD) between the corresponding static optimized intensity map and the sequenced intensity map using the random variable, and if the computed SOAD is less than a previously computed SOAD, then accepting a change to the sequenced intensity map based on the random variable, otherwise rejecting the change; repeating, by the control system, the applying of the CIMO leaf sequencing algorithm to each of the static optimized intensity maps to produce an optimized aperture shape and aperture weight for each of the sequenced intensity maps; and outputting, by the control system, the optimized aperture shape and aperture weight for each of the sequenced intensity maps comprising the IMAT plan, and a final dose calculation for the IMAT plan based on the optimized aperture shape and aperture weight for each of the sequenced intensity maps.