Systems, methods, and devices for real-time treatment verification using electronic portal imaging device

Abstract

A radiation dose received by a patient 110 from a radiation therapy system 100 can be verified by acquiring a cine stream of image frames from an electronic portal imaging device (EPID) 108 that is arranged to detect radiation exiting the patient during irradiation. The cine stream of EPID image frames can be processed in real-time to form exit images providing dose measurements at the EPID (e.g., absolute dose as dose-to-water values), which can be representative of the characteristics of the radiation received by the patient. Compliance with predetermined characteristics for the field can be determined during treatment by periodically comparing the dose measurements with the predetermined characteristics, which can include a predicted total dose in the field after full treatment and / or a complete irradiation area outline (CIAO). The system operator can be alerted or the irradiation automatically stopped when non-compliance is detected.

Description

technical field [0001] The present disclosure relates generally to the delivery of radiation to a patient, and more particularly to systems, methods, and apparatus for real-time dose verification of radiation therapy treatments using electronic portal imaging devices (EPIDs). Background technique [0002] Dynamic radiation therapy techniques, such as Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) and Volume Modulated Arc Therapy (VMAT), are typically used with radiation therapy systems such as linear accelerators (linacs) equipped with multi-leaf collimators (MLC) to treat pathological anatomy by delivering specified doses of radiation (X-rays, gamma rays, electrons, protons, and / or ions) to the pathological anatomy while minimizing radiation exposure to surrounding tissues and critical anatomical structures (Tumors, lesions, vascular malformations, nervous disorders, etc.). The use of MLCs allows radiotherapists to treat patients from multiple angles while varying the shape ...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

[0004] Recently, despite pre-treatment validation, errors in the delivery of radiation therapy have resulted in injury to patients, some with fatal consequences

In particular, because this verification occurs without the patient in place, it cannot account for changes in the setup, such as system errors or misalignments that could inadvertently expose the patient to harmful radiation during treatment

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