Ring gantry radiation treatment delivery system with dynamically controllable inward extension of treatment head
Granted: September 17, 2013
Patent Number:
8536547
Systems, methods, and related computer program products for image-guided radiation treatment (IGRT) are described. For one preferred embodiment, an IGRT apparatus is provided comprising a ring gantry having a central opening sufficiently large to accommodate a body of a patient positioned along a longitudinal axis and extending therethrough, and a gantry tilting mechanism configured to tilt the ring gantry to a plurality of different tilt angles relative to the longitudinal axis. A…
Adaptive x-ray control
Granted: July 9, 2013
Patent Number:
8483358
A method, apparatus and system for measuring the signal-to-noise ratio of x-ray images and to adaptively control x-ray exposure in response to image quality and patient movement.
Subtraction of a segmented anatomical feature from an acquired image
Granted: June 4, 2013
Patent Number:
8457372
A system, method and apparatus for subtracting a synthetically-generated image, including a segmented anatomical feature, from an acquired image.
Patient positioning assembly
Granted: June 4, 2013
Patent Number:
8457279
A patient positioning assembly is described. The patient positioning assembly including a plate member rotatably mounted on a base member, and an arm extending between a first end and a second end, wherein the first end is rotatably attached to the plate member. The patient positioning assembly further including a support device rotatably attached to the second end of the arm to support a patient thereon, with the support device is configured to move the patient in at least five degrees…
Calibrating tracking systems to remove position-dependent bias
Granted: April 9, 2013
Patent Number:
8417318
A method for removing position-dependent bias from tracking systems computes invertible transformations between a tracking system and a reference system, and applies an inverse of the transformation to measurements in the tracking system to estimate the locations of reference points in the reference system and to determine relative bias at the measured points.
Patient tracking using a virtual image
Granted: March 26, 2013
Patent Number:
8406851
An apparatus and method of tracking a patient using a virtual image.
Achromatically bending a beam of charged particles by about ninety degrees
Granted: March 26, 2013
Patent Number:
8405044
Embodiments of the invention provide systems and methods for achromatically bending beam of charged particles by about 90° during radiation treatment. A system may include first, second, third, and fourth bending magnets serially arranged along the particle beam path. The first and fourth bending magnets are configured to generate a positive field gradient that defocuses the particle beam in the bend plane. The second and third bending magnets are configured to generate a negative field…
Method and apparatus for patient loading and unloading
Granted: March 26, 2013
Patent Number:
8402581
A method and apparatus of a positioning system are described to position an upper-half of a body relative to a head-end of a couch. The positioning system may be a patient positioning system and may include a treatment couch, a leg rest coupled to the treatment couch, and a drive mechanism coupled to the leg rest. The patient positioning system may also include a treatment couch, having a base portion of a treatment couch and plurality of detachable portions of the treatment couch. The…
Traveling wave linear accelerator comprising a frequency controller for interleaved multi-energy operation
Granted: February 26, 2013
Patent Number:
8384314
An electromagnetic wave having a phase velocity and an amplitude is provided by an electromagnetic wave source to a traveling wave linear accelerator. The traveling wave linear accelerator generates a first output of electrons having a first energy by accelerating an electron beam using the electromagnetic wave. The first output of electrons can be contacted with a target to provide a first beam of x-rays. The electromagnetic wave can be modified by adjusting its amplitude and the phase…
Image alignment
Granted: November 20, 2012
Patent Number:
8315356
A method and apparatus for positioning a patient for radiation treatment are described. The method includes obtaining a plurality of projection images of a patient positioned on a treatment couch, displaying at least one of the plurality of projection images with a corresponding synthetic projection image on a display, adjusting the position of the at least one projection image on the display to approximately align with the corresponding synthetic projection image in response to a user…
Magnetron powered linear accelerator for interleaved multi-energy operation
Granted: November 13, 2012
Patent Number:
8311187
The disclosure relates to systems and methods for interleaving operation of a linear accelerator that use a magnetron as the source of electromagnetic waves for use in accelerating electrons to at least two different ranges of energies. The accelerated electrons can be used to generate x-rays of at least two different energy ranges. In certain embodiments, the accelerated electrons can be used to generate x-rays of at least two different energy ranges. The systems and methods are…
Precision registration of X-ray images to cone-beam CT scan for image-guided radiation treatment
Granted: November 6, 2012
Patent Number:
8306297
A method for precision registration of X-ray images to cone-beam CT scan for image-guided radiosurgery includes acquiring 2-D pre-treatment X-ray images of a region of interest, acquiring a 2-D X-ray image of the region of interest at approximately a time of treatment, registering the 2-D X-ray image with a corresponding 2-D pre-treatment X-ray image to obtain a 2-D registration result at approximately the time of treatment, and converting the 2-D registration result into a 3-D tracking…
Cardiac target tracking
Granted: October 23, 2012
Patent Number:
8295435
Systems and methods for tracking cardiac targets are disclosed. The cardiac targets may be tracked dynamically. The process may include registering a cardiac target at different phases of a cardiac cycle. Movement of the cardiac target can be determined by correlating respiratory motion and cardiac pumping motion. Radiation treatment can then be delivered to the cardiac target taking into account the movement of the cardiac target.
Interleaving multi-energy X-ray energy operation of a standing wave linear accelerator
Granted: October 9, 2012
Patent Number:
8284898
The disclosure relates to systems and methods for interleaving operation of a standing wave linear accelerator (LINAC) for use in providing electrons of at least two different energy ranges, which can be contacted with x-ray targets to generate x-rays of at least two different energy ranges. The LINAC can be operated to output electrons at different energies by varying the power of the electromagnetic wave input to the LINAC, or by using a detunable side cavity which includes an…
Image guided radiosurgery method and apparatus using registration of 2D radiographic images with digitally reconstructed radiographs of 3D scan data
Granted: October 2, 2012
Patent Number:
8280491
A set of 2D reconstructed images is generated from a pretreatment 3D scan showing an initial position of a target, wherein the set of 2D reconstructed images corresponds to perturbations from said initial position along fewer than six degrees of freedom. Said set of 2D reconstructed images are registered with one or more 2D x-ray images of said target showing a current position of the target, wherein the registering includes computing a set of 3D transformation parameters that represent…
Apparatus and method for determining an optimized path traversal for radiation treatment delivery system
Granted: September 11, 2012
Patent Number:
8262554
An apparatus and method for determining optimized path traversal in a radiation delivery system is described. In one embodiment, determining an optimized path traversal in a radiation delivery system involves providing a plurality of spatial nodes used in a treatment plan, where each of the plurality of spatial nodes represents a position of a radiation source made available to the treatment plan for delivering radiation to a target, identifying a number of unused spatial nodes, from…
Traveling wave linear accelerator comprising a frequency controller for interleaved multi-energy operation
Granted: July 31, 2012
Patent Number:
8232748
An electromagnetic wave having a phase velocity and an amplitude is provided by an electromagnetic wave source to a traveling wave linear accelerator. The traveling wave linear accelerator generates a first output of electrons having a first energy by accelerating an electron beam using the electromagnetic wave. The first output of electrons can be contacted with a target to provide a first beam of x-rays. The electromagnetic wave can be modified by adjusting its amplitude and the phase…
Interleaving multi-energy x-ray energy operation of a standing wave linear accelerator using electronic switches
Granted: June 19, 2012
Patent Number:
8203289
The disclosure relates to systems and methods for fast-switching operating of a standing wave linear accelerator (LINAC) for use in generating x-rays of at least two different energy ranges with advantageously low heating of electronic switches. In certain embodiments, the heating of electronic switches during a fast-switching operation of the LINAC can be kept advantageously low through the controlled, timed activation of multiple electronic switches located in respective side cavities…
Sequential optimizations for treatment planning
Granted: May 15, 2012
Patent Number:
8180020
A method and apparatus for radiation treatment planning are described. The method includes receiving a plurality of radiation treatment-planning parameters, and sequentially optimizing the plurality of radiation treatment-planning parameters.
Correlation model selection for internal target movement
Granted: May 15, 2012
Patent Number:
8180432
A method and apparatus to select a correlation model from a plurality of correlation models to track target movement based on movement of an external marker.
