A patient positioning system for use with a radiation therapy system that monitors the location of fixed and movable components and pre-plans movement of the movable components so as to inhibit movement if a collision would be indicated. The positioning system can also coordinate movement of multiple movable components for reduced overall latency in registering a patient. The positioning system includes external measurement devices which measure the location and orientation of objects, including components of the radiation therapy system, in space and can also monitor for intrusion into the active area of the therapy system by personnel or foreign objects to improve operational safety of the radiation therapy system.

Path planning and collision avoidance for movement of instruments in a radiation therapy environment

A radiation treatment system (100) for accurately delivering radiation to a targeted site within a cancer patient (108) that includes a modular patient support system and a patient positioner (114). The modular patient support system includes a modularly expandable patient pod (200) and at least one immobilization device, such as, for example, a rigid moldable foam cradle (350). The patient pod (200) includes a generally hemi-cylindrical support shell (212) that extends longitudinally between proximal edge (214) and distal edge (216), and transversely between two lateral edges (222, 224). In one embodiment, the lateral edges (222, 224) are tapered to minimize edge effects that result when radiation beams traverse the lateral edges (222, 224).

Modular patient support system

A particle beam irradiation apparatus includes a synchrotron, two scanning electromagnets, an beam delivery apparatus for outputting an ion beam extracted from the synchrotron, and an accelerator and transport system controller, and a scanning controller. These controllers stop the output of the ion beam from the beam delivery apparatus; in a state where the output of the ion beam is stopped, change the irradiation position of the ion beam by controlling the scanning electromagnets; and after this change, control the scanning electromagnets to start the output of the ion beam from the beam delivery apparatus and to perform irradiations of the ion beam to at least one irradiation position a plurality of times based on treatment planning information.

Particle beam irradiation apparatus, treatment planning unit, and particle beam irradiation method

A patient alignment system for a radiation therapy system. The alignment system includes multiple external measurement devices which obtain position measurements of components of the radiation therapy system which are movable and/or are subject to flex or other positional variations. The alignment system employs the external measurements to provide corrective positioning feedback to more precisely register the patient and align them with a radiation beam. The alignment system can be provided as an integral part of a radiation therapy system or can be added as an upgrade to existing radiation therapy systems.

Patient alignment system with external measurement and object coordination for radiation therapy system

In a complex, multi-processor software controlled system, such as proton beam therapy system (PBTS), it may be important to provide treatment configurable parameters that are easily modified by an authorized user to prepare the software controlled systems for various modes of operation. This particular invention relates to a configuration management system for the PBTS that utilizes a database to maintain data and configuration parameters and also to generate and distribute system control files that can be used by the PBTS for treatment delivery. The use of system control files reduces the adverse effects of single point failures in the database by allowing the PBTS to function independently from the database. The PBTS accesses the data, parameters, and control settings from the database through the system control files, which insures that the data and configuration parameters are accessible when and if single point failures occur with respect to the database.

Configuration management and retrieval system for proton beam therapy system

The invention relates to an ion beam scanner system with ion sourcing equipment, an ion accelerator system and ion beam guide, containing an outlet aperture for a converging, centred ion beam and a mechanical alignment system for the target volume which is to be scanned. For this purpose, the ion accelerator system can be set to the acceleration required for maximum penetration depth of the ions. In addition, the scanning system has an energy absorption element, which is mounted in the path of the beam crosswise to the centre of the beam, between the target volume and the ion beam outlet aperture. The energy absorption element can be displaced crossways to the centre of the ion beam to vary the beam's energy, so that modulation of the ion beam depth which is effected by a linear motor and transversal displacement of the energy absorption element can be carried out in rapid succession by depthwise graduated scanning on volumetric elements of the target volume. The invention also relates to a method for ion-beam scanning and to a method for operating an ion-beam scanner system using a gantry system.

Ion beam scanner system and operating method

The ion beam scanning system has an ion source, an ion accelerator, an ion beam guidance device (1) with an ion beam exit window (2) and a mechanical alignment system for the scanned target volume (5). The ion accelerator is adjusted for the maximum penetration depth, with an energy absorption device (7) displaced across the path of the ion beam (3) between the exit window and the target volume, via a linear motor (8), for depth modulation of the ion beam. An Independent claim for an ion beam scanning method is also included.

Ion beam scanning system for radiation therapy e.g. for tumor treatment, uses energy absorption device displaced transverse to ion beam path via linear motor for altering penetration depth

Gerhard Kraft

Papers

Ion beam scanner system and operating method

Ion beam scanning system for radiation therapy e.g. for tumor treatment, uses energy absorption device displaced transverse to ion beam path via linear motor for altering penetration depth