GANTRY IMAGE GUIDED RADIOTHERAPY SYSTEM AND RELATED TREATMENT DELIVERY METHODS

摘要

Systems, methods, and related computer program products for image-guided radiation treatment (IGRT) are described. Provided according to one preferred embodiment is an IGRT apparatus including a barrel-style rotatable gantry structure that provides high mechanical stability, versatility in radiation delivery, and versatility in target tracking. Methods for treatment radiation delivery using the IGRT apparatus include conical non-coplanar rotational arc therapy and cono-helical non-coplanar rotational arc therapy. A radiation treatment head (MV source) and a treatment guidance imaging system including a kV imaging source are mounted to and rotatable with a common barrel-style rotatable gantry structure, or alternatively the MV and kV sources are mounted to separate barrel-style rotatable gantry structures independently rotatable around a common axis of rotation. Methods for intra-fraction target tracking in a gantry-style IGRT system based on comparisons between a pre-acquired planning image and intrafraction x-ray tomosynthesis images and/or intrafraction cone beam CT (CBCT) images are also described.

主权项

1. A method of image guided radiation treatment (IGRT) of a body part, comprising:
providing an IGRT apparatus including a rotatable gantry structure, a radiation treatment head, and a treatment guidance imaging system including a first x-ray cone beam imaging source mounted to and rotatable with said rotatable gantry structure, the treatment guidance imaging system further including a first imaging detector; receiving a pre-acquired image data set of the body part acquired in a reference frame generally independent of a reference frame of the IGRT apparatus; during a patient setup interval, positioning the body part into an initial treatment position relative to the IGRT apparatus, said initial treatment position being along an axis of rotation of said rotatable gantry structure; rotating the rotatable gantry structure through a range of gantry angles greater than 180 degrees plus a fan beam angle of the first x-ray cone beam imaging source; subsequent to said patient setup interval, operating said first x-ray cone beam imaging source and said first imaging detector to acquire a first population of x-ray cone beam projection images of the body part for a respective first population of gantry angles and acquisition times; processing the first population of x-ray cone beam projection images to compute therefrom a time sequence of sliding-window cone beam CT (CBCT) volumes characterized in that each subsequent member of said time sequence is computed using at least one same x-ray cone beam projection image as used in computing at least one previous member of said time sequence; and operating the radiation treatment head to deliver treatment radiation to the body part based at least in part on a comparison between each of said time sequence of sliding-window CBCT volumes and said pre-acquired image data set.