Fully-deformable patient motion models from cone-beam CT for radiotherapy applications

We propose a method to build a fully deformable motion model directly from cone-beam CT (CBCT) projections. This allows inter-fraction variations in the respiratory motion to be accounted for. It is envisaged that the model be used to track the tumour, and monitor organs at risk (OAR), during gated or tracked radiotherapy (RT) treatment of lung cancer. The method is tested on CBCT projections from a simulated phantom in two cases. The simulations are generated from a patient respiratory trace and associated CBCT scanner geometry. Without and with motion correction, l2 norm maximum errors were reduced from 24.5 to 0.698 mm in case 1, and 20.0 to 0.101 mm in case 2, respectively.