Graphical representation of radiation therapy

Abstract

Described herein are methods for monitoring the radiation delivery during a radiotherapy delivery session and providing a graphical representation of radiation delivery to an operator (e.g., a clinician, a medical physicist, a radiation therapy technologist). The graphics are updated in real-time, as radiation data is collected by the radiotherapy system, and in some variations, can be updated every 15 minutes or less. A variety of graphical representations (“graphics”) can be used to indicate the status of radiation delivery relative to the planned radiation delivery. Methods optionally include calculating a range of acceptable metric values, generating graphics that represent the range of acceptable metrics values, and generating a graphic that depicts the real-time values of those metrics overlaid with the range of acceptable metrics values.

1 - 26 . (canceled) 
     
     
         27 . A method for monitoring radiation delivery, the method comprising:
 acquiring real-time radiation delivery data from a radiotherapy system sensor at multiple time points during a radiation delivery session;   calculating a value of a radiation delivery metric based on the real-time radiation delivery data;   generating a graphical representation depicting the value of the radiation delivery metric and a planned value of the radiation delivery metric over the multiple time points; and   outputting the graphical representation to a display.   
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 27 , wherein the radiation delivery metric is a dose metric. 
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 28 , wherein the radiation delivery metric reflects a cumulative delivered dose and the graphical representation comprises a dose gradient plot over the multiple time points. 
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 29 , wherein the graphical representation comprises the dose gradient plot overlaid with an outline of a patient target region. 
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 28 , wherein the graphical representation comprises an isodose contour over the multiple time points. 
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 28 , wherein the graphical representation comprises a dose-volume plot over the multiple time points. 
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 32 , wherein the graphical representation comprises a dose-volume histogram (DVH) over the multiple time points. 
     
     
         34 . The method of  claim 33 , wherein the graphical representation comprises a bounded DVH over the multiple time points. 
     
     
         35 . The method of  claim 27 , wherein the graphical representation further depicts a difference between the planned value of the radiation delivery metric and the value of the radiation delivery metric calculated based on the real-time radiation delivery data. 
     
     
         36 . The method of  claim 27 , further comprising calculating the planned value of the radiation delivery metric over the multiple time points before the radiation delivery session. 
     
     
         37 . The method of  claim 27 , wherein the graphical representation depicts the value of the radiation delivery metric and a planned value of the radiation delivery metric superimposed over an anatomical patient image. 
     
     
         38 . The method of  claim 27 , wherein the graphical representation depicts the value of the radiation delivery metric and a planned value of the radiation delivery metric superimposed over a patient target region. 
     
     
         39 . The method of  claim 27 , wherein the radiotherapy system sensor comprises one or more of an ionization chamber of a therapeutic radiation source, a MV detector, position and/or motion sensors associated with beam-shaping components of the radiotherapy system, position and/or motion sensors associated with a gantry and/or the therapeutic radiation source, and imaging data from an imaging system. 
     
     
         40 . The method of  claim 27 , further comprising comparing the value of the radiation delivery metric with the planned value of the radiation delivery metric, and generating a graphical representation depicting whether or not the value of the radiation delivery metric is within a pre-selected range of values of the planned radiation delivery metric. 
     
     
         41 . The method of  claim 40 , further comprising generating a command signal for stopping radiation delivery if the value of the radiation delivery metric is out of the pre-selected range of the planned radiation delivery metric. 
     
     
         42 . The method of  claim 27 , wherein generating the graphical representation and outputting the graphical representation to the display occurs during a radiation treatment session. 
     
     
         43 . The method of  claim 27 , wherein generating the graphical representation and outputting the graphical representation to the display occurs during a quality assurance (QA) session. 
     
     
         44 . The method of  claim 27 , wherein the multiple time points during the radiation session are at intervals of about 15 minutes or less. 
     
     
         45 . The method of  claim 44 , wherein the multiple time points during the radiation session are at intervals of about 10 seconds or less. 
     
     
         46 . The method of  claim 27 , wherein the radiotherapy system comprises a rotatable gantry comprising a gantry position sensor, a therapeutic radiation source mounted on the gantry and movable to multiple gantry firing positions, a radiation detector, and a beam-shaping component disposed in a radiation beam path of the therapeutic radiation source having a beam-shaping component sensor,
 wherein the real-time radiation delivery data comprises data from the gantry position sensor, the radiation detector, the beam-shaping component sensor, and/or image data at the multiple time points.   
     
     
         47 . The method of  claim 37 , wherein the anatomical patient image is a PET and/or CT scan of the patient. 
     
     
         48 . The method of  claim 27 , wherein the radiotherapy system comprises a rotatable gantry comprising a gantry position sensor, a therapeutic radiation source mounted on the gantry and movable to multiple gantry firing positions, and a beam-shaping component disposed in a radiation beam path of the therapeutic radiation source having a beam-shaping component sensor,
 wherein the real-time radiation delivery data comprises data from the beam-shaping component sensor and the gantry position sensor,   wherein the planned radiation delivery metric over the multiple time points comprises a first sinogram that designates a size and shape of a radiation-transmitting aperture of the beam-shaping component for each gantry firing position according to a treatment plan, and   wherein the graphical representation comprises the first sinogram and a second sinogram that represents the size and shape of the radiation-transmitting aperture for each gantry firing position using the real-time radiation delivery data.   
     
     
         49 . The method of  claim 48 , wherein the beam-shaping component comprises a dynamic multi-leaf collimator (MLC) having a plurality of leaves and the beam-shaping component sensor comprises a plurality of leaf position and/or motion sensors coupled to the plurality of leaves, and
 wherein the first sinogram designates positions of the plurality of leaves for each gantry firing position based on a segmented treatment plan fluence map, and the second sinogram represents the positions of the plurality of leaves for each gantry firing position using data from the plurality of leaf position and/or motion sensors and the gantry position sensor.   
     
     
         50 . The method of  claim 48 , wherein the radiotherapy system further comprises a patient platform movable through a plurality of platform positions within a bore of the gantry and along an axis of rotation of the gantry, and the graphical representation further comprises a 3-D sinogram that is a combination of the first sinogram and the second sinogram for each of the plurality of platform positions. 
     
     
         51 . The method of  claim 49 , wherein the real-time radiation delivery data comprises data from the gantry position sensor, a radiation detector of the radiotherapy system, and the leaf position and/or motion sensors, and
 wherein the graphical representation comprises a pseudo-color firing map, wherein an intensity of each cell in the pseudo-color firing map represents a frequency or intensity of radiation delivery for each MLC leaf at each gantry firing position calculated using the real-time radiation delivery data.   
     
     
         52 . The system of  claim 46 , wherein the beam-shaping component comprises a dynamic multi-leaf collimator (MLC) that comprises a plurality of leaves and a plurality of leaf position and/or motion sensors coupled to the plurality of leaves,
 wherein the real-time radiation delivery data comprises data from the gantry position sensor, the radiation detector, and the leaf position and/or motion sensors, and   wherein the value of the radiation delivery metric is a radiation dose distribution generated using the real-time radiation delivery data, and the graphical representation further comprises a simulated view of the radiation dose distribution in a gantry bore along an axis of rotation of the gantry.   
     
     
         53 . The system of  claim 52 , wherein the simulated view visualizes radiation beam paths of the radiation source during the radiation delivery session.