CHARGED PARTICLE CANCER THERAPY PATIENT CONSTRAINT APPARATUS AND METHOD OF USE THEREOF

摘要

A patient positioning/constraint apparatus and method of use thereof is described in combination with a charged particle cancer therapy system. In one embodiment, a patient is tilted about a longitudinal axis, such as rotation about a head-to-foot axis of the patient where the head-to-foot axis of the patient is horizontal. Optional side support constraints are optionally used to constrain radial movement of the patient on the tilted patient support. The side support constraints are optionally pre-formed to or coupled to a radially outer shape of an individual patient, such as the dexter or sinister side of the individual's head, arm, torso, hip, and/or leg. Patient tilt is optionally combined with rotation of the patient about a vertical axis, rotation of the entire patient about an axis not overlapped by the patient, and/or dynamic control of angles of incident charged particles directed by beamline magnets of the charged particle therapy system.

主权项

1. A method for positioning a tumor of a patient for treatment with positively charged particles translating along a beam path, comprising the steps of:
rotating a rotatable magnet, of a beamline and a charged particle therapy system, about a first vertical axis, said beam path comprising both a vertical vector component and a horizontal vector component from said rotatable magnet to the patient; rotating the patient on a first rotational patient positioning platform, of a patient positioning system, at least one hundred eighty degrees about the first vertical axis; and rotating the patient on a second rotational patient positioning platform about a second vertical axis, said second rotational patient positioning platform mounted to said first rotational patient positioning platform, said second vertical axis moving around the first vertical axis with rotation of said first rotational patient positioning platform; and co-rotating said rotatable magnet and said first rotational patient positioning platform, wherein rotation of said rotatable magnet rotates the horizontal vector component: (1) around said first vertical axis and (2) toward said second vertical axis.