Next generation optical surface sensing for real-time measurement in radiotherapy

With the introduction of intensive new treatments such as hypo-fractionation and proton beam therapy, localization of the tumor target volume and tracking of points across the skin entrance surface have become critically important. Optical metrology has been used to monitor the patient's bulk position and motion throughout treatment. However systems have not been capable of high temporal and spatial resolution whole-surface topology measurement. We describe the implementation of such a system based on Fourier profilometry. Its algorithm is split into four separate processing stages, including spatial phase determination: descriptions of each stage are given along with the modifications made to increase performance. The optimized system is capable of processing 23 frames per second (fps), with each frame providing 512×512 measured points. The data density, accuracy and performance of the system are an order of magnitude improvement on commercially available clinical systems. We show that this performance permits genuinely real-time measurement of a patient, live during both setup and radiation treatment delivery. It is also fast enough to provide smooth dynamic visualizations of motion at all points on the wraparound body surface for radiotherapy staff and intuitive, direct feed-back to patients.