Claims for Patent: 8,315,810

Summary for Patent: 8,315,810

Title:	Apparatus, method, computer-readable medium, and use for therapy planning in treatment of a patient
Abstract:	An apparatus, method, system, computer-readable medium and use for individual patient therapy planning of diseases such as cancer for different therapy modalities, such as radiation therapy and chemotherapy is provided. A new aspect of the invention is that the degree of bone marrow depression of the patient is related to the count of immature blood platelets, which are measured before each treatment. Some embodiments of the invention provide an advantage allowing reducing the level of uncertainty in the prediction of the risk of bone marrow depression, and thus enabling to safely improve the therapy effect by an increase of the radiation dosage and/or chemical dosage to the individual patient while the risk for bone marrow depression is minimized.
Inventor(s):	Von Busch; Heinrich (Aachen, DE), Schweizer; Bernd (Herzogenrath, DE), Georgi; Jens Christoph (Aachen, DE)
Assignee:	Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Eindhoven, NL)
Application Number:	12/446,989
Patent Claims:	1. An apparatus for medical therapy planning in treatment of a patient, said apparatus comprising: a count unit which obtains a count of immature blood platelets in said patient, a first calculation unit which calculates a degree of bone marrow depression based on said immature blood platelet count relative to a minimum degree associated with at least one specific therapy modality, and based on the calculated degree of bone marrow depression, determing eligibility of said patient for said at least one therapy modality, and a second calculation unit which calculates an individual patient dosage plan of at least one therapeutic agent, based on said eligibility of said patient. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said first calculation unit is arranged to calculate the degree of bone marrow depression to determine eligibility based on the ratio between said immature blood platelet count of said patient and a standard immature blood platelet count for a healthy human without bone marrow depression. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said calculated individual patient dosage plan comprises: a dose of said at least one therapeutic agent; and the time between administrations of said at least one therapeutic agent. 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said second calculation unit further is arranged for estimating the immature blood platelet count as a function of time for said patient following treatment according to said individual patient dosage plan. 5. The apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising: a re-planning unit configured to re-plan said individual patient dosage plan by comparing a new count of the immature blood platelets with said estimated immature blood platelet. 6. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said dosage is increased or said time between administrations is decreased if said new count of immature blood platelets is higher than said estimated immature blood platelet count, and vice versa. 7. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said re-planning unit is configured to update the calculation of new individual patient dosage plans, performed by said second calculation unit, based on said new immature blood platelet count compared to said estimated immature blood platelet count. 8. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said at least one therapy modality is targeted therapy of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and said at least one therapeutic agent is Rituximab/90Y-Zevalin.RTM.. 9. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said at least one therapy modality is chemotherapy, and said at least one therapeutic agent is carboplatin. 10. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said first calculation unit is configured to calculate the risk of bone marrow depression for several therapy modalities based on said immature blood platelet count, and to select a therapy modality from the several therapy modalities based on the calculated risk. 11. The apparatus according to claim 1 being comprised in a medical workstation or medical system. 12. A method for medical therapy planning in treatment of a patient, said method comprising: obtaining a count of immature blood platelets in said patient, checking, with one or more processors, eligibility of said patient for at least one specific therapy modality, based on a current level of bone marrow function as reflected by said immature blood platelet count relative to a minimum bone marrow function associated with said at least one specific therapy modality, and calculating an individual patient dosage plan of at least one therapeutic agent, based on said eligibility of the patient. 13. A method according to claim 12, wherein the individual dosage plan is calculated for cancer treatment planning. 14. A method according to claim 12, further comprising estimating an immature blood platelet count as a function of time for said patient following treatment according to said individual patient dosage plan. 15. The method according to claim 14, further comprising re-planning said individual patient dosage plan by comparing a new count of the immature blood platelets with the estimated immature blood platelet count being comprised in said individual patient dosage plan. 16. The method according to claim 15, further comprising updating a reference model comprising parameter estimates suitable for calculating a first individual patient dosage plan for a new patient based on said comparing new immature blood platelet count to said estimated immature blood platelet count. 17. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium carrying software which controls one or more computers to: obtain a count of immature blood platelets in a patient, determine eligibility of said patient for at least one specific therapy modality by calculating a risk of bone marrow depression based on said immature blood platelet count relative for said at least one specific therapy modality, and calculate an individual patient dosage plan of at least one therapeutic agent, based on said eligibility of the patient. 18. A method for medical therapy planning in treatment of a patient, said method comprising: measuring a count of immature blood platelets in said patient; calculating a patient-specific ratio between the count of immature blood platelets in said patient and a standard immature blood platelet count value in patients that are not bone marrow-impaired; with one or more processors, comparing the calculated patient-specific ratio to at least one minimum acceptable therapy-specific value associated with a corresponding therapy modality stored in memory associated with the one or more processors, so as to confirm the eligibility of said patient for said corresponding therapy modality; and calculating an individual patient dosage plan of at least one therapeutic agent, based on said calculated ratio and said eligibility of the patient for said corresponding therapy modality. 19. The method of claim 18, further comprising selecting said at least one therapeutic agent and said at least one therapy modality for which said patient is eligible having the highest calculated ratio compared to the at least one minimum acceptable therapy-specific value for said at least one therapy modality. 20. The method of claim 19, wherein calculating the individual patient dosage plan further comprises: calculating a dosage of said selected therapeutic agent for said patient based on a standard dosage and the calculated ratio; and calculating a dosage schedule of said selected therapeutic agent for said patient based on a standard time between dosage administrations and the calculated ratio.

Details for Patent 8,315,810

Applicant	Tradename	Biologic Ingredient	Dosage Form	BLA	Approval Date	Patent No.	Expiredate
Genentech, Inc.	RITUXAN	rituximab	Injection	103705	11/26/1997		2026-11-10
Idec Pharmaceuticals Corp.	RITUXAN	rituximab	Injection	103737	02/19/2002		2026-11-10
Genentech, Inc.	RITUXAN HYCELA	rituximab and hyaluronidase human	Injection	761064	06/22/2017		2026-11-10