Radiotherapy is used to treat cancers and other ailments in mammalian (e.g., human and animal) tissue. One such radiotherapy technique is a Gamma Knife, by which a patient is irradiated by a large number of low-intensity gamma rays that converge with high intensity and high precision at a target (e.g., a tumor). In another embodiment, radiotherapy is provided using a linear accelerator, whereby a tumor is irradiated by high-energy particles (e.g., electrons, protons, ions, and the like). The placement and dose of the radiation beam must be accurately controlled to ensure the tumor receives the prescribed radiation, and the placement of the beam should be such as to minimize damage to the surrounding healthy tissue, often called the organ(s) at risk (OARs).
The radiation beam may be shaped to match a shape of the tumor, such as by using a multileaf collimator (e.g., multileaf collimator includes multiple tungsten leaves that may move independently of one another to create customized radiation beam shapes). (Radiation is termed “prescribed” because a physician orders a predefined amount of radiation to the tumor and surrounding organs similar to a prescription for medicine).
Traditionally, for each patient, a radiation therapy treatment plan (“treatment plan”) may be created using an optimization technique based on clinical and dosimetric objectives and constraints (e.g., the maximum, minimum, and mean doses of radiation to the tumor and critical organs). The treatment planning procedure may include using a three-dimensional image of the patient to identify a target region (e.g., the tumor) and to identify critical organs near the tumor. Creation of a treatment plan can be a time consuming process where a planner tries to comply with various treatment objectives or constraints (e.g., dose volume histogram (DVH) objectives), taking into account their individual importance (e.g., weighting) in order to produce a treatment plan which is clinically acceptable. This task can be a time-consuming trial-and-error process that is complicated by the various organs at risk (OARs, because as the number of OARs increases (e.g., up to thirteen for a head-and-neck treatment), so does the complexity of the process. OARs distant from a tumor may be easily spared from radiation, while OARs close to or overlapping a target tumor may be difficult to spare.
Computed Tomography (CT) imaging traditionally serves as the primary source of image data for treatment planning for radiation therapy. CT images offer accurate representation of patient geometry, and CT values can be directly converted to electron densities (e.g., Hounsfield units) for radiation dose calculation. However, using CT causes the patient to be exposed to additional radiation dosage. In addition to CT images, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans can be used in radiation therapy due to their superior soft-tissue contrast, as compared to CT images. MRI is free of ionizing radiation and can be used to capture functional information of the human body, such as tissue metabolism and functionality.
Imaging systems such as computed tomography (CT), fluoroscopy, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may be used to determine the location of and track a target (e.g., an organ, a tumor, and the like). MRI is typically used because it provides excellent soft tissue contract without using ionizing radiation as used by CT. An example of a radiotherapy treatment system integrated with an imaging system may include an MRI-Linac, which may use three-dimensional (3D) images of a target (e.g., a tumor). The MRI apparatus of the MRI-Linac may provide a plurality of images that corresponds to a partial map of hydrogen nuclei in tissues of the patient. The patient images may be acquired in a two-dimensional (2D) plane or in a 3D volume. Because organs and tumors move within a patient's body, fast and accurate 3D localization of the target is important. For instance, a target organ or tumor may move because of various types of motion (e.g., respiratory, cardiac, peristalsis or other types of patient motion). However, 2D MR slices are typically acquired at a particular location of the patient's body and the 2D MR slice may not include the tumor/target because of the target organ or tumor motion. Therefore, a system and method to acquire the target tumor and track the structure and motion of the tumor is required such that the acquired 2D MR slice in terms of location, orientation, and/or thickness includes the target tumor and is visible on the 2D MR slices in a clinical environment.
This Overview is an overview of some of the teachings of the present application and not intended to be an exclusive or exhaustive treatment of the present subject matter. Further details about the present subject matter are found in the detailed description and appended claims. Other aspects of the invention will be apparent to persons skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the following detailed description and viewing the drawings that form a part thereof, each of which are not to be taken in a limiting sense. The scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents.
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