CN113749685B

CN113749685B - Leaf optimization method of collimator, radiation treatment plan conversion method and system

Info

Publication number: CN113749685B
Application number: CN202111237694.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 文理斌; 薛万冬; 刘艳芳
Original assignee: Shanghai United Imaging Healthcare Co Ltd
Current assignee: Shanghai United Imaging Healthcare Co Ltd
Priority date: 2021-10-22
Filing date: 2021-10-22
Publication date: 2023-10-27
Anticipated expiration: 2041-10-22
Also published as: CN113749685A

Abstract

The present specification relates to a leaf optimization method of a collimator, a radiation treatment plan conversion method and a system, the method comprising: obtaining a leaf arrangement of a multi-leaf collimator comprising at least two leaf layers, each leaf layer comprising at least one real leaf; determining at least two corresponding reference blades according to the blade arrangement of the multi-blade collimator, wherein at least two projection areas corresponding to the at least two reference blades are not overlapped; blade optimization is performed based on at least two reference blades to determine target blade positions corresponding to each real blade in at least two blade layers. The method may further include modifying the first radiation treatment plan to an equivalent second radiation treatment plan based on a leaf position association between the first collimator and the second collimator, one of the first collimator corresponding to the first radiation treatment plan and the second collimator corresponding to the second radiation treatment plan comprising at least two leaf layers, the other being a single leaf layer.

Description

Leaf optimization method of collimator, radiation treatment plan conversion method and system

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of medical devices, and in particular, to a method for optimizing a collimator blade, and a method and system for transforming a radiation treatment plan.

Background

In medical scanning apparatuses or medical radiation apparatuses, such as Computer Radiography (CR), digital Radiography (DR), computed Tomography (CT), X-ray therapy apparatus, cobalt-60 therapy apparatus, etc., the primary function of the collimator is to block excess radiation so as to be able to irradiate the radiation to a desired target area, such as a lesion area of a patient's organ. One or more leaves may be included in the collimator, which may form the field/radiation area. In actual use of the collimator, the position of one or more leaves of the collimator may be optimized to bring the field/radiation area formed by the one or more leaves into conformity with the desired target area.

Accordingly, there is a need for a method and system for optimizing the leaf position of a collimator.

Disclosure of Invention

One of the embodiments of the present specification provides a method for optimizing a leaf of a collimator, the method comprising: obtaining a leaf arrangement of a multi-leaf collimator comprising at least two leaf layers, each leaf layer comprising at least one real leaf; determining at least two corresponding reference blades according to the blade arrangement of the multi-blade collimator, wherein at least two projection areas corresponding to the at least two reference blades are not overlapped; and performing blade optimization based on the at least two reference blades to determine target blade positions corresponding to each real blade in the at least two blade layers.

One of the embodiments of the present specification provides a vane optimization system for a collimator, the system comprising: the first acquisition module is used for acquiring blade arrangement of the multi-blade collimator, and the multi-blade collimator comprises at least two blade layers, wherein each blade layer comprises at least one real blade; a first determining module, configured to determine at least two corresponding reference blades according to the blade arrangement of the multi-blade collimator, where at least two projection areas corresponding to the at least two reference blades are non-overlapping; and the second determining module is used for carrying out blade optimization based on the at least two reference blades so as to determine the target blade positions corresponding to the real blades in the at least two blade layers.

One of the embodiments of the present specification provides a blade optimization apparatus for a collimator, the apparatus including at least one processor and at least one storage device for storing instructions, which when executed by the at least one processor, implement a blade optimization method for the collimator.

One of the embodiments of the present specification provides a radiation treatment plan conversion method, including: acquiring a first radiation treatment plan, wherein the first radiation treatment plan corresponds to a first collimator; modifying the first radiation treatment plan into an equivalent second radiation treatment plan based on a leaf position association relationship between the first collimator and the second collimator, the second radiation treatment plan corresponding to the second collimator, wherein one of the first collimator and the second collimator comprises at least two leaf layers, and the other is a single leaf layer.

Drawings

The present specification will be further elucidated by way of example embodiments, which will be described in detail by means of the accompanying drawings. The embodiments are not limiting, in which like numerals represent like structures, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of an application scenario of a blade optimization system of a collimator according to some embodiments of the present description;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a leaf optimization system of a collimator shown in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is an exemplary flow chart of a method of blade optimization of a collimator shown in accordance with some embodiments of the present description;

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of at least two blade layers and at least two reference blades shown in accordance with some embodiments of the present description;

FIG. 5 is an exemplary flow chart of a method of determining a target blade position for each real blade in at least two blade layers according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

fig. 6 is a block diagram of a system for collimator leaf switching, according to some embodiments of the disclosure.

Detailed Description

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present specification, the drawings that are required to be used in the description of the embodiments will be briefly described below. It is apparent that the drawings in the following description are only some examples or embodiments of the present specification, and it is possible for those of ordinary skill in the art to apply the present specification to other similar situations according to the drawings without inventive effort. Unless otherwise apparent from the context of the language or otherwise specified, like reference numerals in the figures refer to like structures or operations.

It will be appreciated that "system," "apparatus," "unit" and/or "module" as used herein is one method for distinguishing between different components, elements, parts, portions or assemblies of different levels. However, if other words can achieve the same purpose, the words can be replaced by other expressions.

As used in this specification and the claims, the terms "a," "an," "the," and/or "the" are not specific to a singular, but may include a plurality, unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. In general, the terms "comprises" and "comprising" merely indicate that the steps and elements are explicitly identified, and they do not constitute an exclusive list, as other steps or elements may be included in a method or apparatus.

A flowchart is used in this specification to describe the operations performed by the system according to embodiments of the present specification. It should be appreciated that the preceding or following operations are not necessarily performed in order precisely. Rather, the steps may be processed in reverse order or simultaneously. Also, other operations may be added to or removed from these processes.

The blade optimization method of the collimator disclosed herein may be applied to various devices configured with a collimator, such as medical scanning devices, including but not limited to one of a computer X-ray Camera (CR), a digital X-ray camera (DR), a computed tomography scanner (CT), a flat-panel X-ray machine, a mobile X-ray device (such as a mobile C-arm machine), an emission computed tomography scanner (ECT), etc., or any combination thereof, and also, for example, to various medical radiation devices, including but not limited to one of an X-ray therapy machine, a cobalt-60 therapy machine, a medical accelerator, etc., or any combination thereof.

A collimator comprising a plurality of leaves may be referred to as a Multi-leaf collimator (MLC). Multi-leaf collimators comprising a plurality of leaf layers (e.g. two layers, three layers, etc.) may be referred to as multi-layer multi-leaf collimators, and multi-leaf collimators comprising a single leaf layer may be referred to as single layer multi-leaf collimators. For more details on the collimator see fig. 3 and its associated description.

In some embodiments, the present disclosure provides a method for converting a collimator blade, which may obtain a blade arrangement of the collimator, and perform equivalent conversion between at least two blade layers and at least two blades according to the blade arrangement, where at least two projection areas corresponding to the at least two blades are not overlapped.

For example, in some embodiments, it may be desirable to convert multiple leaf layers of a multi-layer multi-leaf collimator into an equivalent of at least two leaves, which may form a single leaf layer, to form the same field/radiation region as that formed by the multiple leaf layers with an equivalent single leaf layer. The blade arrangement of the multi-layer multi-blade collimator can be obtained, the multi-layer multi-blade collimator comprises at least two blade layers, at least two corresponding reference blades are determined according to the blade arrangement of the multi-layer multi-blade collimator, at least two projection areas corresponding to the at least two reference blades are not overlapped, and at least two reference blades can form a single blade layer equivalent to the at least two blade layers. Further details of determining the corresponding at least two reference leaves according to the leaf arrangement of the multi-layer multi-leaf collimator can be seen in fig. 3 and its associated description.

For another example, in some embodiments, in order to more finely tune the field, more variously, or other situations where a multi-layer multi-leaf collimator is desired, it is desirable to convert a single leaf layer of a single-layer multi-leaf collimator to an equivalent of at least two leaf layers to form the same field/radiation area as that formed by the single leaf layer. The leaf arrangement of the single-layer multi-leaf collimator can be obtained, wherein at least two projection areas corresponding to at least two leaves included in the single-layer multi-leaf collimator are not overlapped, and the corresponding at least two leaf layers are determined according to the leaf arrangement of the single-layer multi-leaf collimator. According to the leaf arrangement of the single-layer multi-leaf collimator, determining the corresponding at least two leaf layers may include: the plurality of real blades of the at least two blade layers are determined by the at least two blade derivatives of the single blade layer based on a blade position correlation of the at least two blades (e.g., at least two reference blades) of the single blade layer with each blade (e.g., each real blade) of the corresponding at least two blade layers. For more on determining the plurality of blades (e.g. the plurality of real blades of the at least two blade layers) from the blade arrangement derivation of the at least two blades (e.g. the at least two reference blades) of the single blade layer based on the positional association, see fig. 3 and the related description thereof.

In some embodiments, equivalent conversion of the radiation treatment plan may be achieved by equivalent conversion of a multi-layer multi-leaf collimator and a single-layer multi-leaf collimator leaf, in which case the reference leaf may be a solid leaf (also known as a true leaf). For example, a first radiation treatment plan is acquired, the first radiation treatment plan corresponding to a first collimator; modifying the first radiation treatment plan into an equivalent second radiation treatment plan based on a leaf position association relationship between the first collimator and the second collimator, the second radiation treatment plan corresponding to the second collimator, wherein one of the first collimator and the second collimator comprises at least two leaf layers, and the other is a single leaf layer. The radiation treatment plan refers to a plan and arrangement made according to radiation treatment target areas and organ tissue areas needing to be protected, and related elements of radiation treatment such as radiation treatment doses, devices and equipment used for radiation treatment such as a radiation field, a collimator and the like. In some embodiments, the present description sets forth a radiation treatment plan conversion method by which a collimator of a first radiation treatment plan may be determined; according to some embodiments of the present description, the collimator leaves of the collimator of the first radiation treatment plan are equivalently transformed to obtain transformed collimator leaves, and a second radiation treatment plan equivalent to the first radiation treatment plan is obtained based on the transformed collimator leaves. The first radiation treatment plan being equivalent to the second radiation treatment plan may mean that the radiation irradiation field, radiation treatment dose, radiation treatment effect, and the like of the first radiation treatment plan and the second radiation treatment plan are the same. For example, a multi-layered multi-leaf collimator may be employed in a first radiation treatment plan, and the multi-layered multi-leaf collimator may be equivalently converted to a single-layered multi-leaf collimator according to the collimator leaf conversion methods described in some embodiments of the present disclosure, thereby determining a second radiation treatment plan that is equivalent to the first radiation treatment plan, employing the single-layered multi-leaf collimator. As another example, a single layer multi-leaf collimator may be employed in a first radiation treatment plan, and the single layer multi-leaf collimator may be equivalently converted to a multi-layer multi-leaf collimator according to the methods of collimator leaf conversion described in some embodiments of the present disclosure, thereby determining a second radiation treatment plan employing the multi-layer multi-leaf collimator that is equivalent to the first radiation treatment plan.

In some embodiments, optimization of leaf positions of the multi-layer leaves based on the single-layer leaves may be achieved through equivalent conversion of the multi-layer multi-leaf collimator and the single-layer multi-leaf collimator leaves to achieve optimization of the radiation treatment plan. In this case, the reference blade may be a virtual blade. In some embodiments, the present disclosure proposes a method for optimizing a collimator, by which a target vane position (for example, a target vane position in a vane extension direction) of a plurality of vanes (for example, a plurality of vanes of a plurality of vane layers) of the collimator may be determined, so as to optimize/adjust the plurality of vanes (for example, the plurality of vanes of the plurality of vane layers) of the collimator, and further, an emission field/radiation area formed by the plurality of vanes of the collimator may be optimized/adjusted, so that an emission field/radiation area formed by the optimized plurality of vanes (for example, the plurality of vanes of the plurality of vane layers) is the same as or less different from an emission field/radiation area formed by the plurality of vanes (for example, the plurality of vanes of the plurality of vane layers) of the irradiated object (for example, the lesion area of the human organ). Furthermore, the target area can be precisely irradiated (such as medical radiotherapy irradiation) through the optimized collimator blades, and meanwhile radiation influence on other areas outside the target area is avoided.

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of an application scenario of a blade optimization system of a collimator according to some embodiments of the present description.

In some embodiments, the collimator vane optimization system 100 may perform collimator vane optimization/adjustment based on the collimator vane optimization methods disclosed herein.

As shown in fig. 1, the collimator leaf optimization system 100 may include a radiation or scanning apparatus 110, a network 120, a terminal 130, a processing device 140, and a storage device 150.

The irradiation or scanning device 110 may scan a target object and acquire a corresponding scan signal, or may irradiate a target object with radiation. The radiation or scanning device 110 may include a gantry, an emitting device, a collimator, etc. (none shown). The radiation or scanning device 110 may include, but is not limited to, one or more of a computer tomography (CR), a Digital Radiography (DR), a Computer Tomography (CT), a flat panel X-ray machine, a mobile X-ray apparatus (such as a mobile C-arm machine), an emission type computer tomography (ECT), an X-ray therapeutic machine, a cobalt-60 therapeutic machine, a medical accelerator, etc., or any combination thereof, a Positron Emission Tomography (PET), a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), a Single Photon Emission Computer Tomography (SPECT), a Thermal Tomography (TTM), a Medical Electronic Endoscope (MEE), etc. In some embodiments, a scanning cavity may be provided in the middle of the gantry, which may be used to house a scanning object (e.g., a patient), and may be circular, elliptical, polygonal, etc. The emitting device (e.g., bulb) may be used to emit radiation or signals, which may include X-rays, gamma rays, beta rays, and the like. A collimator may be used to collimate the radiation to be able to irradiate the radiation to a desired target area, such as a diseased area of a patient's organ. The collimation may include an adjustment of the width and/or direction of the fan beam of rays. In some embodiments, the collimator may include a plurality of blades (e.g., a plurality of blades of at least two blade layers) that may form a field/radiation region through which radiation may reach the scan object.

The terminal 130 may include a mobile device 131, a tablet 132, a notebook 133, or the like, or any combination thereof. In some embodiments, the terminal 130 may interact with other components in the collimator's blade optimization system 100 through a network. For example, the terminal 130 may send one or more control instructions to the radiation or scanning device 110 to control radiation or scanningThe scanning device 110 emits radiation or scans as instructed. For another example, the terminal 130 may send one or more control instructions to the radiation or scanning device 110 to control the radiation or scanning device 110 to drive the real blade in accordance with the instructions to move the real blade to a target blade position (e.g., a target blade position in the direction of blade extension). For another example, the terminal 130 may also receive processing results of the processing device 140, such as a determined plurality of reference blades, a reference target position, a target blade position, and the like. In some embodiments, mobile device 131 may include a smart home device, a wearable device, a mobile device, a virtual reality device, an augmented reality device, or the like, or any combination thereof. In some embodiments, the smart home devices may include smart lighting devices, smart appliance control devices, smart monitoring devices, smart televisions, smart cameras, interphones, and the like, or any combination thereof. In some embodiments, the wearable device may include a bracelet, footwear, glasses, helmet, watch, clothing, backpack, smart accessory, or the like, or any combination thereof. In some embodiments, the mobile device may include a mobile phone, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a gaming device, a navigation device, a POS device, a notebook, a tablet, a desktop, etc., or any combination thereof. In some embodiments, the virtual reality device and/or augmented reality device may include a virtual reality helmet, virtual reality glasses, virtual reality patches, augmented reality helmets, augmented reality glasses, augmented reality patches, and the like, or any combination thereof. For example, the virtual reality device and/or augmented reality device may include Google Glass ^TM 、Oculus Rift ^TM 、HoloLens ^TM Or Gear VR ^TM Etc. In some embodiments, terminal 130 may be part of processing device 140.

In some embodiments, the processing device 140 may process data and/or information obtained from the radiation or scanning apparatus 110, the terminal 130, and/or the storage device 150. For example, the processing device 140 may process the obtained leaf information (e.g., leaf arrangement) of the collimator in the radiation or scanning apparatus 110 to determine a plurality of reference leaves. For another example, the processing device 140 may optimize the blade of the aligner (e.g., the plurality of real blades of the at least two blade layers) to determine a target blade position for each of the real blades of the at least two blade layers. For another example, the processing device 140 may control the movement of the real leaf of the collimator to the target leaf position. For another example, the processing device 140 may control a radiation source (not shown in FIG. 1) and a detector (not shown in FIG. 1) to scan or irradiate a field/radiation area formed by a blade (e.g., a plurality of real blades of at least two layers) of a collimator. For another example, the processing device 140 may implement an equivalent transformation of the radiation treatment plan by a transformation method of collimator blades. In some embodiments, processing device 140 may comprise a single server or a group of servers. The server group may be centralized or distributed. In some embodiments, the processing device 140 may be local or remote. For example, the processing device 140 may access information and/or data from the radiation or scanning apparatus 110, the terminal 130, and/or the storage device 150 via the network 120. As another example, the processing device 140 may be directly connected to the radiation or scanning apparatus 110, the terminal 130, and/or the storage device 150 to access information and/or data. In some embodiments, the processing device 140 may be implemented on a cloud platform. For example, the cloud platform may include one or a combination of several of private cloud, public cloud, hybrid cloud, community cloud, distributed cloud, cross-cloud, multi-cloud, and the like.

The storage device 150 may store data (e.g., real blade position, reference blade position for a reference blade, reference target position, target blade position, etc.), instructions, and/or any other information. In some embodiments, the storage device 150 may store data obtained from the radiation or scanning apparatus 110, the terminal 130, and/or the processing device 140, for example, the storage device 150 may store real blade position data obtained from the radiation or scanning apparatus 110. In some embodiments, the storage device 150 may store data and/or instructions for execution or use by the processing device 140 to perform the exemplary methods described herein. For example, the storage device 150 may store data for a plurality of reference leaves determined based on the leaf arrangement of the collimator. For another example, the storage device 150 may also store the optimally calculated reference target position and target blade position. In some embodiments, the storage device 150 may include one or a combination of a large capacity memory, a removable memory, a volatile read-write memory, a read-only memory (ROM), and the like. Mass storage may include magnetic disks, optical disks, solid state disks, removable memory, and the like. Removable memory may include flash drives, floppy disks, optical disks, memory cards, ZIP disks, tape, and the like. Volatile read-write memory can include Random Access Memory (RAM). The RAM may include Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (DDR-SDRAM), static Random Access Memory (SRAM), silicon controlled random access memory (T-RAM), zero capacitance random access memory (Z-RAM), etc. ROM may include mask read-only memory (MROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), digital versatile disc, and the like. In some embodiments, storage device 150 may be implemented by a cloud platform as described in this specification. For example, the cloud platform may include one or a combination of several of private cloud, public cloud, hybrid cloud, community cloud, distributed cloud, cross-cloud, multi-cloud, and the like.

In some embodiments, the storage device 150 may be connected to the network 120 to enable communication with one or more components (e.g., the processing device 140, the terminal 130, etc.) in the collimator's blade optimization system 100. One or more components in the collimator's blade optimization system 100 may read data or instructions in the storage device 150 through the network 120. In some embodiments, the storage device 150 may be part of the processing device 140 or may be separate and directly or indirectly connected to the processing device 140.

The network 120 may comprise any suitable network capable of facilitating the exchange of information and/or data of the leaf optimization system 100 of the collimator, and may also be part of or connected to the hospital network HIS (Hospital Information System) or PACS (Picture archiving and communication systems) or other hospital network, although independent of the HIS or PACS or other hospital network. In some embodiments, one or more components of the collimator's blade optimization system 100 (e.g., radiationOr scanning apparatus 110, terminal 130, processing device 140, storage device 150, etc.) may exchange information and/or data with one or more components of the collimator's blade optimization system 100 via network 120. For example, processing device 140 may obtain planning data from a data processing planning system via network 120. Network 120 may include one or a combination of public networks (e.g., the internet), private networks (e.g., local Area Network (LAN), wide Area Network (WAN)), etc.), wired networks (e.g., ethernet), wireless networks (e.g., 802.11 networks, wireless Wi-Fi networks, etc.), cellular networks (e.g., long Term Evolution (LTE) networks), frame relay networks, virtual Private Networks (VPN), satellite networks, telephone networks, routers, hubs, server computers, etc. For example, network 120 may include a wired network, a fiber optic network, a telecommunications network, a local area network, a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), a Metropolitan Area Network (MAN), a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), bluetooth ^TM Network, zigBee ^TM A network, a Near Field Communication (NFC) network, or the like. In some embodiments, network 120 may include one or more network access points. For example, the network 120 may include wired and/or wireless network access points, such as base stations and/or internet switching points, through which one or more components of the collimator's blade optimization system 100 may connect to the network 120 to exchange data and/or information.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a vane optimization system of a collimator according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

As shown in fig. 2, the collimator blade optimization system 200 may include a first acquisition module 210, a first determination module 220, and a second determination module 230. In some embodiments, the collimator blade optimization system 200 may also include a drive module 240.

In some embodiments, the first acquisition module 210 may be used to acquire a leaf arrangement of a multi-leaf collimator comprising at least two leaf layers, each leaf layer comprising at least one real leaf, at least two real leaves of the at least two leaf layers forming a real radiation area for radiation from a radiation source.

In some embodiments, the first determining module 220 may be configured to determine, from the arrangement of leaves of the multi-leaf collimator, at least two reference leaves corresponding to at least two projection areas of the at least two reference leaves that do not overlap. In some embodiments, the first determination module 220 may also be configured to determine an overlapping relationship between at least two real blades in the at least two blade layers; and determining the corresponding at least two reference blades based on the overlapping relation, wherein the blade position with the minimum offset of at least one real blade arranged along the layer arrangement direction in the blade extension direction can be determined as the reference blade position of the corresponding reference blade in the blade extension direction. In some embodiments, the first determination module 220 may also be configured to determine a blade boundary position of at least two real blades in the at least two blade layers in the blade arrangement direction; determining the corresponding at least two reference blades based on the blade boundary positions; wherein, two adjacent blade boundary positions of the real blade in the blade arrangement direction correspond to two reference blade boundary positions of one reference blade in the blade arrangement direction. In some embodiments, the first determination module 220 may also be configured to determine a first blade position of the at least two real blades of the at least two blade layers in a blade extension direction; determining reference blade positions of the corresponding at least two reference blades in the blade extending direction based on the first blade position; wherein the reference field formed by the at least two reference blades is the same as the real field formed by the at least two real blades of the at least two blade layers.

In some embodiments, the second determination module 230 may be configured to perform blade optimization based on the at least two reference blades to determine a target blade position for each real blade in the at least two blade layers. In some embodiments, the second determination module 230 may also be used to determine a target radiation amount; determining the blade position association relation between the at least two reference blades and each corresponding real blade of the at least two blade layers; and determining the target blade positions corresponding to the real blades in the at least two blade layers based on the position association relation, so that the difference between the estimated radiation amounts corresponding to the at least two reference blades corresponding to the at least two blade layers and the target radiation amounts is minimized or reaches a preset threshold value. In some embodiments, the second determining module 230 may be further configured to determine at least two reference target positions corresponding to the at least two reference blades, so that a difference between the estimated radiation amounts and the target radiation amounts corresponding to the at least two reference blades corresponding to the at least two blade layers is minimized or reaches a preset threshold; and determining the target blade position corresponding to each real blade based on the association relation between the at least two reference target positions and the blade position. In some embodiments, the second determining module 230 may be further configured to optimize a blade position of each real blade in the at least two blade layers based on the positional relationship to determine the target blade position corresponding to each real blade.

In some embodiments, the drive module 240 may be configured to drive the at least two real blades of the at least two blade layers to move the at least two real blades of the at least two blade layers to corresponding target blade positions.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that, given the principles of the system, various modules may be combined arbitrarily or a subsystem may be constructed in connection with other modules without departing from such principles. For example, the first acquisition module 210 and the first determination module 220 disclosed in fig. 2 may be one module to implement the functions of the two modules. For another example, each module may share one memory module, or each module may have a respective memory module. Such variations are within the scope of the present description.

FIG. 3 is an exemplary flow chart of a method of blade optimization of a collimator according to some embodiments of the present description.

In some embodiments, the process 300 may be performed by processing logic that may comprise hardware (e.g., circuitry, dedicated logic, programmable logic, microcode, etc.), software (instructions run on a processing device to perform hardware simulation), or the like, or any combination thereof. One or more of the operations in the process 300 for acquiring medical images shown in fig. 3 may be implemented by the processing device 140 shown in fig. 1. For example, the flow 300 may be stored in the storage device 150 in the form of instructions and executed by the processing device 140 for invocation and/or execution.

As shown in fig. 3, the method 300 of blade optimization of the collimator may include the following operations.

In step 310, a leaf arrangement of a multi-leaf collimator is obtained, the multi-leaf collimator comprising at least two leaf layers, each leaf layer comprising at least one real leaf.

In some embodiments, step 310 may be performed by the first acquisition module 210.

The collimator is a device for coupling input and output optical signals/ray signals, and can generate/form a radiation field (namely, a radiation area for radiation of a radiation source, which can also be called a range that a beam/ray bundle vertically passes through an irradiated object after passing through the collimator, and can be represented by projection of the ray bundle on an incident surface or a section size of the surface of the irradiated object).

The collimator may include collimator leaves and form a contoured field/radiation area by the collimator leaves. The collimator blades may include one or more blades (e.g., 2, 3, 4, etc.), which may be used to block radiation. One or more blades may be arranged in sequence to form a contoured field/radiation area. In some embodiments, each blade is independently movable. In some embodiments, the radiation source may emit a beam of radiation (e.g., X-rays) that passes through a field/radiation region formed by the collimator blades.

In some embodiments, the blades may be any shape or combination of oval, rectangular, triangular, etc.

In some embodiments, the blade has a width and a length. The width may refer to the dimension in the direction of the line between the shortest two sides (or two points) on the surface of the blade (corresponding to the shape of the blade projected on one projection plane in the direction of radiation of the radiation). The length may refer to the dimension in the direction of the line connecting the two sides (or points) that are the longest on the surface of the blade that is irradiated with the radiation.

In some embodiments, one or more of the blades corresponds to a blade extension direction. In some embodiments, the blade extension direction may be the length direction of the blade. In some embodiments, the blade extension direction may be the width direction of the blade. In some embodiments, the direction of blade extension may be the direction in which the blade is able to move. In some embodiments, the blade may be elongated (or extended) or shortened in the direction of blade extension. In some embodiments, the blade may be moved left and right in the direction of blade extension. In some embodiments, the field/radiation area formed by a collimator blade (e.g., one or more blades, a blade layer, multiple blade layers) may be changed by the blade being elongated (or elongated) in the direction of blade extension, or being shortened, moved left-to-right, etc.

In some embodiments, the plurality of blades sequentially aligned in each blade layer corresponds to a blade alignment direction. In some embodiments, a plurality of blades of a blade layer may correspond to a blade alignment direction. In some embodiments, the plurality of blade layers may correspond to a plurality of blade alignment directions. In some embodiments, the plurality of blade layers may employ the same blade alignment direction (e.g., may be a common blade alignment direction in which the plurality of blade layers are projected onto a projection plane of the radiation direction). In some embodiments, the blade alignment direction may be the length direction of the blades. In some embodiments, the blade arrangement direction may be the width direction of the blades. In some embodiments, two blades may be parallel or may form an included angle (e.g., 30 °, 50 °, 80 °) among the blades arranged in sequence.

In some embodiments, the blade extension direction of the one or more blades may be the length direction of the blade, and the blade alignment direction of the one or more blades may be the width direction of the blade.

In some embodiments, the collimator leaf may comprise one leaf layer or two, three, etc. leaf layers, wherein one leaf layer may comprise one or more leaves. In some embodiments, the plurality of blade layers may be arranged in sequence, i.e., stacked, and may be parallel to each other or may form an inclination angle (e.g., 30 °, 50 °, 80 °, etc.), e.g., the first blade layer and the second blade layer form an angle of 30 °.

In some embodiments, a shielding relationship exists between at least two blade layers of the plurality of blade layers, that is, each blade layer may form a corresponding field/radiation area, the field/radiation areas corresponding to the respective blade layers may be the same or different, shielding may be generated between the field/radiation areas of different blade layers, and the stacked plurality of blade layers may finally form a corresponding field/radiation area. In some embodiments, by changing/adjusting the overlapping/shielding relationship between the plurality of blade layers, the corresponding field/radiation area of the plurality of blade layers that are finally formed may be adjusted to obtain the target field/radiation area of the desired shape profile.

In some embodiments, the actual collimator leaves in the collimator may be referred to as real leaves, the positions of the real leaves may be referred to as real leaf positions, and the field/radiation area formed by the real leaves of the collimator may be referred to as a real radiation area.

The blade arrangement of the multi-blade collimator refers to the arrangement and layout of a plurality of blades. In some embodiments, the blade arrangement may comprise: the position of the blade in the direction of blade extension, the position of one or more blades in the direction of blade arrangement, the placement position of each of the plurality of blade layers, the overlapping relation/shielding relation between each of the plurality of blade layers, and the like.

In some embodiments, a coordinate system including a blade extension direction and a blade arrangement direction may be empirically or desirably set, for example, as shown in fig. 4, the blade extension direction and the blade arrangement direction may be two directions perpendicular to each other, wherein the origin of coordinates O may be a center position of the field/radiation area. The position of the blade in the direction of blade extension may include, for example: in the extending direction of the blade 1, the position coordinate of the center of the blade or any positioning point of the blade is X1, the position coordinate of the end face of the blade forming the field/radiation area is L1, and the like. The position of the one or more blades in the blade arrangement direction may exemplarily include: in the blade arrangement direction of one or more blades, the number 1 of the blade 1 refers to the arrangement order, the position of the blade 1 (blade center position, blade boundary position, etc.) is the position coordinate W1, and so on. The placement of each of the plurality of blade layers may illustratively include: the blade layer a is a j-th layer of the plurality of blade layers sequentially arranged from bottom to top or an i-th layer of the plurality of blade layers sequentially arranged from top to bottom (i and j are integers), a position coordinate of the blade layer a in a layer arrangement direction of the plurality of blade layers is Hi, etc., and the layer arrangement direction (not shown in fig. 4) may be a direction perpendicular to a plane formed by the blade extending direction and the blade arrangement direction as shown in fig. 4.

The overlapping/blocking relationship between each of the plurality of blade layers may illustratively include: the overlapping/shielding of the blade layer a and the blade layer B, the overlapping/shielding condition of the blade layer a on the field/radiation area of the blade layer B (overlapping/shielded blade, overlapping/shielding area, overlapping/shielding position, etc.), the overlapping/shielding condition of the blade 1 of the blade layer a and the blade 2 of the blade B, the overlapping/shielding condition of the blade 1 of the blade layer a on the field/radiation area of the blade layer B (overlapping/shielded blade, overlapping/shielding area, overlapping/shielding position, etc.), etc.

In other embodiments of the present description, a collimator is described that includes at least two leaf layers.

In some embodiments, the information about the leaf arrangement of the collimator may be recorded in leaf-related parameters of the collimator, and the leaf arrangement of the collimator leaf may be obtained by obtaining the leaf-related parameters of the collimator.

In some embodiments, the leaf arrangement of the collimator may be obtained by observing, measuring or scanning the collimator leaves, etc. The present description does not limit the method of obtaining the leaf arrangement of the collimator.

Step 320, determining at least two corresponding reference blades according to the blade arrangement of the multi-blade collimator, wherein at least two projection areas corresponding to the at least two reference blades are not overlapped.

In some embodiments, step 320 may be performed by the first determination module 220.

The reference blade refers to a blade used for reference or a blade after conversion, and can be a virtual blade or a real blade. In some embodiments, a plurality of reference leaves, such as 2, 3, 4, etc., reference leaves corresponding to at least two leaf layers of a multi-leaf collimator may be determined based on the leaf arrangement.

In some embodiments, determining the corresponding plurality of reference blades based on the blade arrangement may include determining the plurality of reference blades based on one or more of blade arrangement information such as a position of the blades in a direction in which the blades extend, a position of one or more blades in a direction in which the blades are aligned, a placement position of each of the plurality of blade layers, an overlapping relationship/shielding relationship between a plurality of real blades of the plurality of blade layers, and the like.

In some embodiments, determining a corresponding plurality of reference blades based on the blade arrangement may include determining reference blade position (i.e., blade position of the reference blades), reference blade arrangement, reference blade number, and the like, of the plurality of reference blades.

The at least two projection areas corresponding to the determined plurality of reference blades (e.g., the at least two reference blades) are non-overlapping, i.e., there is no overlap/shielding between each of the plurality of reference blades.

In some embodiments, the reference radiation shielding area formed by the plurality of reference blades may be determined based on the real radiation shielding area formed by the plurality of real blades comprised by the at least two blade layers. In some embodiments, the reference radiation blocking area formed by the plurality of reference blades determined based on the real blade positions is the same as the real radiation blocking area formed by the plurality of real blades comprised by the at least two blade layers. The reference blades are virtual blades, and can correspondingly realize virtual radiation shielding, and the reference radiation shielding area refers to a virtual radiation shielding area formed by a plurality of reference blades.

In some embodiments, a plurality of reference blades (e.g., reference blade position, reference blade arrangement, reference blade number, etc. reference blade related information) may be determined based on the division of the real radiation shielded area. In some embodiments, the real radiation shielding area may be divided into a plurality of real radiation shielding strips, each of which is formed by one real blade or a plurality of real blades together, i.e. each of which has a correspondence with one real blade or a plurality of real blades. In some embodiments, one real radiation shielding strip may correspond to a reference radiation shielding area of one reference blade, and a plurality of real radiation shielding strips may correspond to a plurality of reference radiation shielding areas of a plurality of reference blades, where each real radiation shielding strip has a correspondence with one real blade or a plurality of real blades (e.g. the real radiation shielding strip 1 is formed by a real blade 2 and a real blade 3 together, where the real blade 2 and the real blade 3 have a shielding relationship), it is understood that each reference blade also has a correspondence with one real blade or a plurality of real blades, e.g. the position of the reference blade 1 in the direction of blade extension corresponds to the position of the real blade 1 in the direction of blade extension.

In some embodiments, the reference radiation area formed by the plurality of reference blades may be determined based on the real radiation area formed by the plurality of real blades comprised by the at least two blade layers. In some embodiments, the reference radiation area formed by the plurality of reference blades determined based on the real blade positions is the same shape as the real radiation area formed by the at least two real blades of the at least two blade layers. The reference radiation area refers to a virtual field/radiation area formed by a plurality of reference blades.

In some embodiments, the determined plurality of reference blades may be arranged in sequence to form a reference blade layer. In some embodiments, the plurality of reference blades may be staggered up and down, and the plurality of projections corresponding to the plurality of reference blades may be sequentially arranged along a blade arrangement direction in which the plurality of reference blades project on a projection plane, i.e. there is no shielding between each of the plurality of reference blades. In some embodiments, the plurality of reference blades may form a plurality of reference blade layers, where the plurality of reference blade layers may be staggered, so that there is no shielding relationship between the plurality of reference blade layers, i.e., the plurality of projections corresponding to the plurality of reference blade layers may be sequentially arranged along a blade arrangement direction in which the plurality of reference blade layers project on a projection plane, so that there is no shielding between each of the plurality of reference blades in the plurality of reference blade layers.

In some embodiments, the collimator includes the same number of leaves as the reference leaves. For example, the collimator comprises 2 leaf layers, the 2 leaf layers comprising a total of 5 real leaves, corresponding to which 5 reference leaves can be determined. In some embodiments, the collimator blades may include different numbers of real blades and reference blades (see FIG. 4). In some embodiments, the number of reference blades may be determined based on the number of blades of the real blades.

In some embodiments, at least two real blades in at least two blade layers may be divided into corresponding at least two reference blades based on an overlapping/blocking relationship of each real blade of the at least two blade layers, wherein two adjacent blade boundary positions of the at least two real blades in the blade arrangement direction correspond to two reference blade boundary positions of one reference blade in the blade arrangement direction.

In some embodiments, the blade boundary positions of the plurality of reference blades may be determined based on the blade boundary positions of the plurality of real blades of the two blade layers in the blade arrangement direction. The plurality of reference blades may be determined based on the determined blade boundary positions of the plurality of reference blades. It will be appreciated that in the direction of blade alignment, each real blade and reference blade includes two blade boundary positions. Among blade boundary positions of a plurality of real blades of at least two blade layers in the blade arrangement direction, two adjacent blade boundary positions correspond to two reference blade boundary positions of one reference blade in the blade arrangement direction. The adjacent two blade boundary positions are the results obtained by arranging the boundaries of the plurality of real blades of the plurality of blade layers along the blade arrangement direction. For example, referring to FIG. 4, adjacent two blade boundary locations may be W11 and W21.

In some embodiments, a reference first blade position of the plurality of reference blades in the blade extension direction (i.e., the first direction) may also be determined based on the first blade positions of the plurality of real blades of the two blade layers. In some embodiments, the plurality of reference blades may be determined based on the determined reference blade boundary positions of the plurality of reference blades and the reference first blade position. It will be appreciated that the reference radiation area formed by the plurality of reference blades is determined to be the same shape as the real radiation area formed by the plurality of real blades of the at least two blade layers, i.e. the field/radiation area formed by the plurality of reference blades is equivalent to the field/radiation area formed by the corresponding plurality of real blades of the at least two blade layers.

In some embodiments, the blade extension direction of the real blade may be referred to as a first direction and the blade position of the real blade in the first direction may be referred to as a first blade position.

For example, as shown in fig. 4, the collimator blade includes two blade layers, namely a blade layer a and a blade layer B which are arranged from bottom to top, the blade layer a includes a real blade 1, a real blade 3 and a real blade 5 which are arranged in sequence, the blade layer B includes a real blade 2 and a real blade 4 which are arranged in sequence, and a shielding exists between a plurality of real blades of the blade layer a and the blade layer B, so that a real radiation area S shown in fig. 4 is formed.

As shown in fig. 4, it can be determined that the coordinate positions (i.e., first blade positions) of the end surfaces of the real blades 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 forming the field/radiation area in the blade extending direction (i.e., first direction) are L, respectively ₁ 、L ₂ 、L ₃ 、L ₄ 、L ₅ (in fig. 4, the point O in the first direction is illustratively taken as the origin of coordinates). It is possible to determine the position coordinates of 2 blade boundary positions of the real blade 1, the real blade 2, the real blade 3, the real blade 4, the real blade 5 in the blade arrangement direction (such as one blade arrangement direction in which a plurality of reference blade layers are projected on one projection plane) as W11 and W12, W21 and W22, W31 and W32, W41 and W42, W51 and W52, respectively (in fig. 4, the blade arrangement is exemplifiedThe first blade arranged in the direction, that is, the start position of the real blade 1 is the origin of coordinates), wherein 5 real blades may be closely arranged or may have a gap, wherein the boundary positions of 2 real blades adjacently arranged in the same blade layer may coincide, and the real blade of the blade layer a and the real blade of the blade layer B may overlap in one projection plane. As shown in fig. 4, W12 and W31 overlap, W22 and W41 overlap, and W32 and W51 overlap.

As shown in fig. 4, based on the blade boundary positions W11, W12, W21, W22, W31, W32, W41, W42, W51, W52 of the plurality of real blades of the two blade layers in the blade arrangement direction, the reference blade boundary positions corresponding to the 6 reference blades, respectively, can be determined. Wherein the reference blade boundary positions of the reference blade 1 are W11 and W21, the reference blade boundary positions of the reference blade 2 are W21 and W12 (or W31), the reference blade boundary positions of the reference blade 3 are W12 (or W31) and W22 (or W41), the reference blade boundary positions of the reference blade 4 are W22 (or W41) and W32 (or W51), the reference blade boundary positions of the reference blade 5 are W32 (or W51) and W42, and the blade boundary positions of the reference blade 6 are W42 and W52.

As shown in fig. 4, a first blade position L of a plurality of real blades based on two blade layers ₁ 、L ₂ 、L ₃ 、L ₄ 、L ₅ The coordinate positions of the end faces of the 6 reference blades forming the field/radiation area in the blade extension direction (i.e., the first direction) can be determined (i.e., the first blade position is referred to). Wherein the coordinate position of the end faces of the reference blades 1-6 can be expressed as l ₁ 、l ₂ 、l ₃ 、l ₄ 、l ₅ 、l ₆ Can be determined to obtain l ₁ ＝L ₁ 、l ₂ ＝L ₁ 、l ₃ ＝L ₃ 、l ₄ ＝L4、l ₅ ＝L ₅ 、l ₆ ＝L ₅ 。

As shown in fig. 4, the field/radiation area formed by the 6 reference blades is identical to the real radiation area S (e.g., shape).

In some embodiments, the plurality of reference blades determined based on the blade arrangement of the at least two blade layers of the collimator have an association with the plurality of real blades of the at least two blade layers. For more details regarding the association between the plurality of reference blades and the plurality of real blades, reference may be made to step 330 and related details thereof, which are not described herein.

And 330, performing blade optimization based on the at least two reference blades to determine target blade positions corresponding to each real blade in the at least two blade layers.

In some embodiments, step 330 may be performed by the second determination module 230.

In some embodiments, after determining the plurality of reference blades, blade optimization of each real blade (e.g., the first blade position of the real blade, the blade boundary position of the real blade) of at least two blade layers of the multi-blade collimator may be achieved by optimizing the reference blade (e.g., the first blade position of the reference blade, which may be referred to as the reference first blade position: the blade boundary position of the reference blade, which may be referred to as the reference boundary position). Wherein the optimized blade position of the real blade may be referred to as the target blade position. In some embodiments, the target blade position may be a determined position. In some embodiments, the target blade position may be a range of positions.

The optimization of the reference blades may be such that the difference/deviation between the estimated radiation amounts corresponding to the plurality of reference blades (i.e. the estimated radiation amounts corresponding to the reference radiation areas formed by the plurality of reference blades) and the actually required target radiation amounts is reduced such that the difference/deviation is minimized or reaches a preset threshold. The target radiation amount may reflect the amount of radiation required for the target portal/target radiation area (e.g., the area corresponding to the lesion of the patient).

Optimizing the plurality of real blades of the at least two blade layers may reduce a difference/deviation between an estimated radiation amount corresponding to the plurality of real blades of the at least two blade layers (i.e., an estimated radiation amount corresponding to a real radiation area formed by the plurality of real blades) and an actually required target radiation amount such that the difference/deviation is minimized or reaches a preset threshold.

In some embodiments, optimization of a reference blade position (e.g., a first blade position of the reference blade in the direction of blade extension) may be performed based on a parameter difference between the estimated radiation amount and the target radiation amount (e.g., the radiation dose corresponding to each position, whether that position is irradiated, etc.).

In some embodiments, a blade position association relationship between the at least two reference blades and each real blade of the at least two blade layers may be determined, and the target blade position corresponding to each real blade of the at least two blade layers may be determined based on the position association relationship, so that a difference between a target radiation amount and an estimated radiation amount corresponding to the at least two reference blades is minimized or reaches a preset threshold.

As described above, the determined plurality of reference blades and the plurality of real blades of at least two layers have a correspondence relationship, for example, the plurality of reference first blade positions corresponding to the plurality of reference blades and the plurality of first blade positions corresponding to the plurality of real blades have a correspondence relationship, and the plurality of reference boundary positions corresponding to the plurality of reference blades and the plurality of blade boundary positions corresponding to the plurality of real blades have a correspondence relationship. In some embodiments, the blade position association relationship between at least two reference blades and each of the corresponding at least two blade layers may be determined based on the correspondence between the plurality of reference blades and the plurality of real blades of the at least two layers (e.g., the correspondence between the plurality of reference first blade positions and the plurality of first blade positions, the correspondence between the plurality of reference boundary positions and the plurality of blade boundary positions).

In some embodiments, the positional association of the plurality of reference blades and the plurality of real blades may include a function of a plurality of reference target blade positions (e.g., reference first blade positions of the reference blades in the blade extension direction) of the plurality of reference blades and a plurality of real blade positions (e.g., first blade positions of the real blades in the blade extension direction) of the plurality of real blades.

In some embodiments, L may be made _i Represents the offset distance between the ith real blade and the coordinate axis in the blade arrangement direction, l _i Represents the offset distance (fromThe farther the coordinate axis is, the greater the offset), at this time, the positional association relationship can be expressed as:

l ₁ ＝L ₁ ；l _i ＝min(L _i-1 ，L _i )，for i≥2

in some embodiments, the foregoing positional association may be substituted into an algorithm for optimizing a real blade to determine a target blade position, so as to convert a blade position for solving the real blade into a reference target position for solving a reference blade, and further determine a target blade position corresponding to the real blade. For more details on determining the target blade position based on the aforementioned positional association in the algorithm for optimizing the real blade to determine the target blade position, see fig. 5 and the description thereof.

The reference target position refers to a reference blade position of the reference blade determined after optimization of the reference blade (e.g., a reference first blade position of the optimized reference blade in the blade extension direction).

In some embodiments, the optimization of the real blades to determine the target blade positions may be performed by manual adjustment, algorithm optimization (for example, optimizing the real blade positions of the real blades based on a gradient chain rule, or optimizing the real blade positions by using other analysis algorithms), processing the input related information of the real blades (for example, the first blade position of the real blade in the extending direction of the blade) by using a training neural network model, so as to output the target blade positions corresponding to the real blades, and so on.

For more on blade optimization of a plurality of real blades of at least two blade layers to determine a target blade position, see fig. 5 and its associated description.

In some embodiments, the reference blade may be optimized to determine a reference target position, and then a plurality of target blade positions corresponding to a plurality of real blades of the at least two blade layers may be determined based on a blade position association relationship between the at least two reference blades and each of the real blades of the at least two blade layers and a plurality of reference target positions corresponding to the plurality of reference blades. Optimizing the reference blade to determine the reference target position of the reference blade may employ a similar method as optimizing the real blade to determine the target blade position, only by replacing the relevant information of the real blade with the relevant information of the corresponding reference blade.

In some embodiments, taking the coordinate positions in FIG. 4 as an example, a plurality of first blade positions L corresponding to a plurality of real blades _i A plurality of reference first vane positions l corresponding to the plurality of reference vanes _i The position association relation of (a) is as follows:

l ₁ ＝L ₁ ；l _i ＝min(L _i-1 ，L _i )，for i≥2

the determined reference target positions corresponding to the plurality of reference blades may be represented as l _i ' the plurality of target blade positions of the plurality of real blades may be denoted as L _i ' As shown in FIG. 4, O is the origin of coordinates, l _i 、L _i 、l _i ’、L _i ' each represents the amount of deflection of the corresponding vane.

In some embodiments, the target blade positions of the respective real blades of the corresponding at least two blade layers may be determined by deriving from the reference target positions of the at least two reference blades based on the positional association relationship: l (L) ₁ ’＝l ₁ 'A'; if l _i-1 ’＜l _i ' or l _i-1 ’＞l _i ' then L _i ’＝l _i 'A'; if l _i-1 ’＝l _i ' judge l _i ' and l _i+1 ' size, if l _i ’≥l _i+1 ' then L _i ’≥l _i ' if l _i ’＜l _i+1 ' then L _i ’≥l _i+1 ’。

In some embodiments, based on the determined target blade position (e.g., the first blade position of the optimized real blade in the blade extension direction) of the plurality of real blades, the plurality of real blades of the at least two blade layers may be correspondingly moved to the corresponding target blade positions to achieve the target radiation dose by adjusting the plurality of blades of the at least two blade layers to form the target field/target radiation region.

In some embodiments, the plurality of blades of at least two blade layers may be driven to move to corresponding target blade positions by a control device (e.g., motor, pulley, etc.). In some embodiments, the real blade may also be moved by a manual method, etc., and the driving method is not limited in this specification.

It should be noted that the above description of the process 300 is for purposes of example and illustration only and is not intended to limit the scope of applicability of the present disclosure. Various modifications and changes to flow 300 will be apparent to those skilled in the art in light of the present description. However, such modifications and variations are still within the scope of the present description.

It should be noted that the real blade and the reference blade in fig. 4 are only for illustration and description, and do not limit the application scope of the present specification. Various modifications and changes to the actual blade and the reference blade will be apparent to those skilled in the art in light of the present description. However, such modifications and variations are still within the scope of the present description.

FIG. 5 is an exemplary flow chart of determining target blade positions for each real blade in the at least two blade layers according to some embodiments of the present description.

In some embodiments, the process 500 may be performed by processing logic that may comprise hardware (e.g., circuitry, dedicated logic, programmable logic, microcode, etc.), software (instructions run on a processing device to perform a hardware reference), or the like, or any combination thereof. One or more operations in the flow 500 shown in fig. 5 may be implemented by the processing device 140 shown in fig. 1. For example, the flow 500 may be stored in the storage device 150 in the form of instructions and executed by the second determination module 230 of the system 200 deployed on the processing device 140 to invoke and/or execute.

As shown in fig. 5, a method 500 of determining a target blade position for each real blade in the at least two blade layers may include the following operations.

Step 510, determining a target radiation amount, and determining an objective function based on the target radiation amount and a difference between the estimated radiation amounts corresponding to at least two reference blades corresponding to at least two blade layers.

The estimated radiation amount corresponding to the plurality of reference blades (equivalently, the estimated radiation amount corresponding to the at least two blade layers corresponding to the plurality of real blades) refers to the radiation amount distribution corresponding to the radiation through the plurality of reference blades (equivalently, the plurality of real blades through the corresponding at least two blade layers) on the irradiated object (such as the region corresponding to the organ of the patient).

The target radiation amount refers to an actually required radiation amount distribution corresponding to an irradiated object, such as an area corresponding to an organ of a patient. The target radiation level may be set as desired or may be determined from the target field/target radiation area (e.g., the area corresponding to the organ of the patient) as desired. For example, in an area corresponding to an organ of a patient, the value of the target radiation amount at each position of a partial area corresponding to a lesion is 2000, and the values of the target radiation amounts at each position of other areas than the partial area corresponding to the lesion are 0 or less (e.g., 5, 10, 20, etc.).

In some embodiments, the estimated radiation amounts corresponding to the plurality of reference blades corresponding to the at least two blade layers may be based on reference blade positions (e.g., reference first blade positions) l of the reference blades corresponding to the respective real blades of the at least two blade layers _i And (5) determining.

For example, the objective function Θ can be constructed as:

wherein L is _i ＝f(l _i ) F represents the reference blade position l _i (e.g. with reference to the first blade position) and the true blade position L _i Positional association (e.g. first blade position),for the position on the illuminated object,,, is>The representation is based on the true blade position L _i Determined position on the illuminated object +.>Corresponding estimated radiation quantity (i.e. based on the true blade position L _i Corresponding reference blade position l _i Determined position on the illuminated object +.>Corresponding estimated radiation amount), the objective function Θ represents the difference between the estimated radiation amount and the target radiation amount.

Step 520, solving the objective function based on the positional association relation between at least two reference blades and each real blade of the at least two corresponding blade layers, so as to obtain the target blade position corresponding to each real blade of the at least two blade layers, so that the difference between the target radiation amount and the estimated radiation amount is minimized or reaches a preset threshold.

In some embodiments, the objective function may be solved with the minimized difference as an optimization objective, i.e., a plurality of target blade positions corresponding to a plurality of real blades of at least two blade layers (e.g., a first blade position of the optimized real blade in a blade extension direction) are solved.

Illustratively, the objective function may be solved by a gradient chain law. The gradient chain rule may be that a gradient of the objective function to the actual blade position is calculated, and an actual blade position is obtained, so that a direction derivative of the objective function at the actual blade position obtains a maximum value along the direction, that is, the direction of the objective function along the direction (the direction of the gradient) at the actual blade position changes the fastest, the rate of change is the largest, so that a direction for solving the objective function is found, and a required target blade position is obtained based on the direction for solving the objective function.

In some embodiments, a positional relationship of a reference blade position (e.g., a reference first blade position) to a true blade position (e.g., a first blade position) may be tied into the objective function and the solution described aboveThe standard function (i.e. solving a plurality of target blade positions corresponding to a plurality of real blades of at least two blade layers) is converted into a reference target position for solving corresponding at least two reference blades, and then the target blade positions of the real blades are determined. Taking the solution of the objective function by the gradient chain algorithm as an example, the solution of the position correlation tie into the objective function can be expressed as the solution of the optimization direction of the objective function by the following formula, and then the target blade position L of the real blade is determined based on the optimization direction of the objective function _i ：

Wherein L is _i ＝f(l _i ) F represents the positional relationship of the reference blade position (e.g., the reference first blade position) with the true blade position (e.g., the first blade position). It can be derived that the actual blade position L can be calculated by solving the objective function based on the position association relation _i Is converted into a corresponding reference blade position l _i So that L is optimized _i Is simpler and more efficient.

Through the embodiment, the optimization problem of the multi-layer multi-leaf collimator can be converted into the optimization problem of the single-layer multi-leaf collimator, so that the solving process of the multi-layer MLC is simplified, and the optimization method applicable to the single-layer multi-leaf collimator in the prior art can be applicable to the multi-layer MLC.

The embodiments of the present specification also provide an apparatus comprising a processor for performing the foregoing collimator blade optimization method. The blade optimization method of the collimator may include: obtaining a leaf arrangement of a multi-leaf collimator comprising at least two leaf layers, each leaf layer comprising at least one real leaf; determining at least two corresponding reference blades according to the blade arrangement of the multi-blade collimator, wherein at least two projection areas corresponding to the at least two reference blades are not overlapped; and performing blade optimization based on the at least two reference blades to determine target blade positions corresponding to each real blade in the at least two blade layers.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a system for collimator leaf switching shown in accordance with some embodiments of the present description.

As shown in fig. 6, the system 600 for collimator leaf switching may include a second acquisition module 610 and a leaf switching module 620.

In some embodiments, the second acquisition module 610 may be used to acquire a leaf arrangement of the collimator. In some embodiments, the second acquisition module 610 can be used to acquire a leaf arrangement of a multi-layer multi-leaf collimator that includes at least two leaf layers. In some embodiments, the second acquisition module 610 can also be used to acquire a leaf arrangement of a single layer multi-leaf collimator that includes at least two leaves that correspond to at least two projection areas that do not overlap.

In some embodiments, the blade conversion module 620 may be configured to perform an equivalent conversion of at least two blade layers to at least two blades according to the blade arrangement; wherein, at least two projection areas that the at least two blades correspond do not overlap. In some embodiments, the leaf transformation module 620 can be used to determine corresponding at least two reference leaves from the leaf arrangement of the multi-layer multi-leaf collimator; wherein, at least two projection areas corresponding to the at least two reference blades are not overlapped. In some embodiments, the leaf transformation module 620 can also be used to determine corresponding at least two leaf layers from the leaf arrangement of the single layer multi-leaf collimator.

In embodiments of the present invention, the conversion between a multi-layer radiation treatment plan and a single-layer radiation treatment plan may be accomplished using the collimator leaf conversion methods, systems, or apparatus described above. For example, a first radiation treatment plan is acquired, the first radiation treatment plan corresponding to a first collimator; modifying the first radiation treatment plan into an equivalent second radiation treatment plan based on a leaf position association relationship between the first collimator and the second collimator, the second radiation treatment plan corresponding to the second collimator, wherein one of the first collimator and the second collimator comprises at least two leaf layers, and the other is a single leaf layer. Optionally, the first collimator is a multi-layer MLC and the second collimator is a single-layer MLC. Through the technical scheme, the conversion between the plan corresponding to the multi-layer MLC and the plan corresponding to the single-layer MLC can be realized, the complex iterative optimization solving process is avoided, the problem is simplified, and the time is shortened. Even if the converted plan does not meet the target dose requirement, the final target radiation treatment plan can be obtained by continuing to optimize based on the converted plan, so that the optimization time is shortened.

The present description embodiment also provides another apparatus comprising a processor for performing the method of collimator leaf conversion described previously. The method of collimator leaf switching may include: obtaining the blade arrangement of a collimator; performing equivalent conversion between at least two blade layers and at least two blades according to the blade arrangement; wherein, at least two projection areas that the at least two blades correspond do not overlap.

The method and system of embodiments of the present description may provide benefits including, but not limited to: (1) For the multi-layer multi-leaf collimator, a plurality of reference leaves which are not blocked mutually are determined based on the real leaf positions of a plurality of real leaves of at least two layers, so that the multi-layer multi-leaf collimator is simplified into an equivalent virtual single layer, the optimized reference target position can be determined directly through a simple non-blocked single layer leaf optimization method, the calculated amount of optimization calculation is reduced, the calculation process is simplified, and the target leaf position of the real leaves of the multi-layer multi-leaf collimator is more conveniently, efficiently and accurately determined; (2) Based on the position association relation between the reference blade and the real blade, the target blade position of the real blade can be obtained from the reference target position of the reference blade, so that the optimization calculation process of the multi-layer multi-leaf collimator blade in the optimization method is simplified, and the optimization algorithm of the single-layer multi-leaf collimator blade can be multiplexed into the multi-layer multi-leaf collimator blade optimization (such as 2 layers, 3 layers, 4 layers and the like) with more different conditions. It should be noted that, the advantages that may be generated by different embodiments may be different, and in different embodiments, the advantages that may be generated may be any one or a combination of several of the above, or any other possible advantages that may be obtained.

Having described the basic concepts, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading this detailed disclosure that the foregoing detailed disclosure is intended to be presented by way of example only and not to be limiting. Various alterations, improvements, and modifications may occur and are intended to be within the skill of the art, though not expressly stated herein. Such alterations, improvements, and modifications are intended to be suggested by this disclosure, and are intended to be within the spirit and scope of the exemplary embodiments of this disclosure.

Furthermore, specific terminology has been used to describe embodiments of the disclosure. For example, the terms "one embodiment," "an embodiment," and/or "some embodiments" mean that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present disclosure. Thus, it is emphasized and should be appreciated that two or more references to "an embodiment" or "one embodiment" or "an alternative embodiment" in various portions of this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined as suitable in one or more embodiments of the disclosure.

Moreover, those of skill in the art will appreciate that aspects of the disclosure may be illustrated and described herein in any of several patentable categories or contexts, including any novel and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any novel and useful improvement thereof. Furthermore, aspects of the present disclosure may take the form of a computer program product embodied in one or more computer-readable media having computer-readable program code embodied thereon.

The computer readable signal medium may include a propagated data signal with computer readable program code embodied therein (e.g., in baseband or as part of a carrier wave). Such propagated signals may take any of a variety of forms, including electro-magnetic, optical, etc., or any suitable combination thereof. A computer readable signal medium may be any computer readable medium that is not a computer readable storage medium and that can communicate, propagate, or transport a program for execution by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. Program code embodied on a computer readable signal medium may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including wireless, wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language such as Java, scala, smalltalk, eiffel, JADE, emerald, C ++, c#, vb.net, python and the like, a conventional procedural programming language such as the "C" programming language, visualBasic, fortran2003, perl, COBOL 2002, PHP, ABAP, dynamic programming languages, such as Python, ruby and Groovy, or other programming languages. The program code may execute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through any type of network, including a Local Area Network (LAN) or a Wide Area Network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the internet using an internet service provider) or provided as a service, such as software as a service (SaaS), in a cloud computing environment.

Furthermore, the recited order of processing elements or sequences, or the use of numbers, letters, or other designations therefore, is not intended to limit the claimed processes and methods to any order, unless may be specified in the claims. While the foregoing disclosure discusses what is presently considered to be various useful embodiments of the disclosure throughout the various examples, it is to be understood that such detail is solely for that purpose and that the appended claims are not limited to the disclosed embodiments, but, on the contrary, are intended to cover modifications and equivalent arrangements that are within the spirit and scope of the disclosed embodiments. For example, while the implementation of the various components described above may be implemented in a hardware device, it may also be implemented as a software-only solution-e.g., installed on an existing server or mobile device.

Similarly, it should be appreciated that in the foregoing description of embodiments of the disclosure, various features are sometimes grouped together in a single embodiment, figure, or description thereof for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure aiding in the understanding of one or more of the various inventive embodiments. This method of disclosure, however, is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed subject matter requires more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, inventive embodiments lie in less than all features of a single foregoing disclosed embodiment.

In some embodiments, numbers expressing quantities or properties used to describe and claim certain embodiments of the present specification are to be understood as being modified in some instances by the term "about," approximately, "or" substantially. For example, "about," "approximately," or "substantially" may indicate a 20% change in the values described unless otherwise stated. Accordingly, in some embodiments, the numerical parameters set forth in the written description and attached claims are approximations that may vary depending upon the desired properties sought to be obtained by the specific embodiments. In some embodiments, these numerical parameters should be construed in light of the number of reported significant digits and by applying ordinary rounding techniques. Notwithstanding that the numerical ranges and parameters setting forth the broad scope of some embodiments of the specification are approximations, the numerical values set forth in the specific examples are reported as precisely as practically possible.

Each patent, patent specification publication, other material, such as an article, book, specification, publication, document, article, etc., that is said to be cited herein is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all purposes except for any prosecution history associated with that material, material of that material that is inconsistent or conflicting with that document, or material of that material that may have a limiting effect on the maximum scope of protection of the claims now or later associated with that document. As an example, if there is any inconsistency or conflict between the description, definition, and/or use of a term associated with any of the incorporated materials and the description, definition, and/or use of a term associated with the present document, the description, definition, and/or use of the term in the present document controls.

Finally, it is to be understood that the embodiments of the application disclosed herein are illustrative of the principles of the embodiments of the present specification. Other modifications that may be employed may fall within the scope of this specification. Thus, by way of example, and not limitation, alternative configurations of embodiments of the present description may be utilized in accordance with the teachings herein. Therefore, the embodiments of the present specification are not limited to as precisely shown and described.

Claims

1. A method of vane optimization for a collimator, comprising:

obtaining a leaf arrangement of a multi-leaf collimator comprising at least two leaf layers, each leaf layer comprising at least one real leaf;

determining at least two corresponding reference blades according to the blade arrangement of the multi-blade collimator, wherein at least two projection areas corresponding to the at least two reference blades are not overlapped;

and determining the target blade positions corresponding to the real blades in the at least two blade layers based on the blade position association relation between the at least two reference blades and the corresponding real blades in the at least two blade layers, so that the difference between the estimated radiation amounts and the target radiation amounts corresponding to the at least two reference blades corresponding to the at least two blade layers is minimized or reaches a preset threshold.

2. The method of claim 1, the determining corresponding at least two reference leaves from the leaf arrangement of the multi-leaf collimator comprising:

an overlapping relationship between at least two real blades in the at least two blade layers is determined, and the corresponding at least two reference blades are determined based on the overlapping relationship.

3. The method of claim 2, the determining the corresponding at least two reference blades based on the overlapping relationship comprising:

dividing at least two real blades in the at least two blade layers into corresponding at least two reference blades based on the overlapping relation, wherein a blade position at which at least one real blade arranged along the layer arrangement direction has the smallest offset in the blade extension direction is determined as a reference blade position of the corresponding reference blade in the blade extension direction.

4. The method of claim 1, the determining corresponding at least two reference leaves from the leaf arrangement of the multi-leaf collimator comprising:

determining blade boundary positions of at least two real blades in the blade arrangement direction of the at least two blade layers;

determining the corresponding at least two reference blades based on the blade boundary positions; wherein, two adjacent blade boundary positions of the real blade in the blade arrangement direction correspond to two reference blade boundary positions of one reference blade in the blade arrangement direction.

5. The method of claim 2 or 4, the determining corresponding at least two reference leaves from the leaf arrangement of the multi-leaf collimator further comprising:

determining blade positions of the at least two real blades of the at least two blade layers in a blade extending direction;

determining reference blade positions of the corresponding at least two reference blades in the blade extending direction based on the blade positions; wherein the reference field formed by the at least two reference blades is the same as the real field formed by the at least two real blades of the at least two blade layers.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining, based on the blade position association relationship between the at least two reference blades and the respective real blades of the at least two blade layers, the target blade position corresponding to the respective real blades of the at least two blade layers such that the difference between the estimated radiation amounts and the target radiation amounts corresponding to the at least two reference blades corresponding to the at least two blade layers is minimized or reaches a preset threshold value comprises:

determining the target radiation amount;

determining the blade position association relation between the at least two reference blades and each corresponding real blade of the at least two blade layers;

And determining the target blade position corresponding to each real blade in the at least two blade layers based on the blade position association relationship, so that the difference between the estimated radiation amount and the target radiation amount corresponding to the at least two reference blades corresponding to the at least two blade layers is minimized or reaches a preset threshold.

7. The method of claim 6, the determining the target blade position corresponding to each real blade in the at least two blade layers based on the blade position correlation such that a difference between the estimated radiation amounts and the target radiation amounts corresponding to the at least two reference blades corresponding to the at least two blade layers is minimized or reaches a preset threshold comprises:

and optimizing the blade positions of the real blades in the at least two blade layers based on the blade position association relationship so as to determine the target blade positions corresponding to the real blades.

8. The method of claim 6, the determining the target blade position corresponding to each real blade in the at least two blade layers based on the blade position correlation such that a difference between the estimated radiation amounts and the target radiation amounts corresponding to the at least two reference blades corresponding to the at least two blade layers is minimized or reaches a preset threshold comprises:

Determining at least two reference target positions corresponding to the at least two reference blades, so that the difference between the estimated radiation amounts corresponding to the at least two reference blades corresponding to the at least two blade layers and the target radiation amounts is minimized or reaches a preset threshold;

and determining the target blade position corresponding to each real blade based on the association relation between the at least two reference target positions and the blade position.

9. A collimator blade optimization system comprising

The first acquisition module is used for acquiring blade arrangement of the multi-blade collimator, and the multi-blade collimator comprises at least two blade layers, wherein each blade layer comprises at least one real blade;

a first determining module, configured to determine at least two corresponding reference blades according to the blade arrangement of the multi-blade collimator, where at least two projection areas corresponding to the at least two reference blades are non-overlapping;

and the second determining module is used for determining the target blade positions corresponding to the real blades in the at least two blade layers based on the blade position association relation between the at least two reference blades and the corresponding real blades in the at least two blade layers, so that the difference between the estimated radiation amounts and the target radiation amounts corresponding to the at least two reference blades corresponding to the at least two blade layers is minimized or reaches a preset threshold value.

10. A blade optimisation apparatus for a collimator, the apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one storage device for storing instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, implement a method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 8.

11. A radiation treatment plan conversion method, comprising:

acquiring a first radiation treatment plan, wherein the first radiation treatment plan corresponds to a first collimator;

modifying the first radiation treatment plan to an equivalent second radiation treatment plan based on a leaf position association between the first collimator and a second collimator, the second radiation treatment plan corresponding to the second collimator,

wherein one of the first collimator and the second collimator comprises at least two leaf layers, the other being a single leaf layer, wherein each leaf layer comprises at least one real leaf, and modifying the first radiation treatment plan to an equivalent second radiation treatment plan comprises converting the at least two leaf layers to the single leaf layer, further comprising:

optimizing at least two reference blades, wherein the optimizing at least two reference blades comprises:

Obtaining blade arrangement of the at least two blade layers;

determining at least two corresponding reference blades according to the blade arrangement of the at least two blade layers, wherein at least two projection areas corresponding to the at least two reference blades are not overlapped;

determining target blade positions corresponding to each real blade in the at least two blade layers based on the blade position association relation between the at least two reference blades and each real blade of the at least two corresponding blade layers, so that the difference between the estimated radiation amounts and the target radiation amounts corresponding to the at least two reference blades corresponding to the at least two blade layers is minimized or reaches a preset threshold;

and determining the single blade layer according to the optimized at least two reference blades.