IMAGING ASSISTED INTEGRATED TOMOGRAPHY - CANCER TREATMENT APPARATUS AND METHOD OF USE THEREOF

摘要

The invention relates to a method and apparatus for control of a charged particle cancer therapy system. A treatment delivery control system is used to directly control multiple subsystems of the cancer therapy system without direct communication between selected subsystems, which enhances safety, simplifies quality assurance and quality control, and facilitates programming. For example, the treatment delivery control system directly controls one or more of: an imaging system, a positioning system, an injection system, a radio-frequency quadrupole system, a ring accelerator or synchrotron, an extraction system, a beam line, an irradiation nozzle, a gantry, a display system, a targeting system, and a verification system. Generally, the control system integrates subsystems and/or integrates output of one or more of the above described cancer therapy system elements with inputs of one or more of the above described cancer therapy system elements.

主权项

1. A method for imaging a tumor of a patient using positively charged particles longitudinally traversing a charged particle beam path, comprising the steps of:
sequentially transporting the positively charged particles from a synchrotron, through an exit nozzle, through a patient, and to a scintillation material; providing a tomography imaging system, comprising:
a substrate sheet axially crossing the charged particle beam path prior to the patient position;a coating material substantially coating and proximately contacting at least one side of said substrate sheet, transmission of the positively charged particles through said coating material resultant in locally emitted photons;a scintillation material, positioned in the charged particle beam path after the patient position, said scintillation material emitting localized light upon receipt of the positively charged particles; andtomographic reconstruction software; said tomography imaging system determining a set of current beam positions at said substrate sheet using a detector to detect the locally emitted photons; said tomography imaging system correlating the set of current beam positions at said substrate sheet to prior side patient interface positions of the positively charged particles; generating a set of spatial images, using the localized light emitted from said scintillation material, as a function of relative rotation of the patient position and the charged particle beam path, and said tomographic reconstruction software forming a three-dimensional image of the tumor using the prior side patient interface positions of the positively charged particles and the set of spatial images.