Particle beam monitoring systems and methods
Granted: April 2, 2019
Patent Number:
10245448
Presented systems and methods facilitate efficient and effective monitoring of particle beams. In some embodiments, a system comprises a primary particle beam generator that generates a primary particle beam, and a monitoring component that monitors the primary particle beam. The monitoring component comprises: a reaction component that is impacted by the primary particle beam, wherein results of an impact include creation of secondary photons; a detection component that detects a…
System and method for generating molybdenum-99 and metastable technetium-99, and other isotopes
Granted: March 26, 2019
Patent Number:
10242760
Accelerator based systems are disclosed for the generation of isotopes, such as molybdenum-98 (“99Mo”) and metastable technetium-99 (“99mTc”) from molybdenum-98 (“98Mo”). Multilayer targets are disclosed for use in the system and other systems to generate 99mTc and 98Mo, and other isotopes. In one example a multilayer target comprises a first, inner target of 98Mo surrounded, at least in part, by a separate, second outer layer of 98Mo. In another example, a first target layer…
Method and apparatus pertaining to optimizing a radiation-treatment plan by permitting non-coincidental isocenters
Granted: March 12, 2019
Patent Number:
10226643
A control circuit utilizes patient information and treatment-platform information to optimize a radiation-treatment plan by permitting isocenters of various radiation-treatment fields as comprise parts of a same treatment plan to not be coincidental with one another to thereby yield an optimized treatment plan. The patient information can pertain to one or more physical aspects of the patient as desired. By one approach, the foregoing can comprise scattering the isocenters of the various…
Proton irradiation using spot scanning
Granted: February 26, 2019
Patent Number:
10213625
In one embodiment of the invention, a method for irradiating a target is disclosed. A proton beam is generated using a cyclotron. A first information is provided to an energy selection system. An energy level for the protons is selected using an energy selection system based on the first information. The first information comprises a depth of said target. The proton beam is routed from the cyclotron through a beam transfer line to a scanning system. A second information is provided to…
Method and system for mobile high-energy radiation treatment environment
Granted: February 19, 2019
Patent Number:
10210588
The present invention is directed to a method, system, and article of manufacture of a treatment environment engine on a mobile device to allow performance of workflow tasks inside of a high radiation medical procedure room. The treatment environment engine comprises a capturing module, a synchronization module, and a medical device control console component for capturing data (e.g., images or text) on the mobile device inside the medical procedure room and synchronizing the data via a…
Gantry system for particle beam therapy
Granted: February 12, 2019
Patent Number:
10201719
A particle beam delivery system includes a beam delivery line of charged particle and a gantry body supporting the beam delivery line. The gantry body is rotatably supported by a first support and a second support. The gantry body serves to rotate the beam delivery line about a horizontal axis passing through the first and second supports. The gantry body comprises a cantilevered portion configured to support at least a section of the beam delivery line in a cantilevered manner extended…
Apparatus and method for real-time tracking of bony structures
Granted: February 12, 2019
Patent Number:
10201291
A method for measuring skin thickness. The method includes at a first 3D point on an outer surface of a patient, exposing the first point to near infrared (NIR) energy from an NIR source. The method includes measuring reflected energy emanating near the first 3D point, or beam incident point. The method includes determining a pattern of the reflected energy based on a distance from a center of the reflected energy, wherein the center is approximated by the first 3D point. The method…
Systems and methods for treating a lung of a patient using guided radiation therapy or surgery
Granted: February 5, 2019
Patent Number:
10195464
Systems and methods for treating a lung of a patient. One embodiment of a method comprises positioning a leadless marker in the lung of the patient relative to the target, and collecting position data of the marker. This method further comprises determining the location of the marker in an external reference frame outside of the patient based on the collected position data, and providing an objective output in the external reference frame that is responsive to movement of the marker. The…
Radiation systems
Granted: January 29, 2019
Patent Number:
10188356
A radiation system includes a first ring, a radiation source capable of providing radiation suitable for treating a patient, the radiation source secured to the first ring, a second ring located behind the first ring, and an imager secured to the second ring. A radiation system includes a first device having a radiation source capable of generating a radiation beam suitable for treating a patient, and a second device having imaging capability, wherein the first device is oriented at an…
Systems and methods for dose calculation in generating radiation treatment plans
Granted: January 29, 2019
Patent Number:
10188873
A first dose calculated using a first set of fluence maps and a first (faster) dose prediction model is accessed. A second fluence map is accessed. The second fluence map is projected onto the first set of fluence maps to deter me set of scalars and a residual value. When the residual value satisfies a criterion, a second dose is calculated using the first dose prediction model, the set of scalars, and the second fluence map. When the residual value does not satisfy the criterion, the…
Shape similarity measure for body tissue
Granted: January 22, 2019
Patent Number:
10186031
A shape similarity metric can be provided that indicates how similar two or more shapes are. A difference between a union of the shapes and an intersection of the shapes can be used to determine the similarity metric. The shape similarity metric can provide an average distance between the shapes. Different processes for determining shapes can be evaluated for accuracy based on the shape similarity metric. New or alternative shape-determining processes can be compared for accuracy against…
Triggered treatment systems and methods
Granted: January 22, 2019
Patent Number:
10183179
In various embodiments, a radiation therapy method can include loading a planning image of a target in a human. In addition, the position of the target can be monitored. A computation can be made of an occurrence of substantial alignment between the position of the target and the target of the planning image. Furthermore, after the computing, a beam of radiation is triggered to deliver a dosage to the target in a short period of time (e.g., less than a second).
Apparatus and methods for using an electromagnetic transponder in orthopedic procedures
Granted: January 22, 2019
Patent Number:
10182868
Electromagnetic transponders as markers are used to localize and guide orthopedic procedures including: knee replacement, hip replacement, shoulder replacement, damaged bone reconstruction, and spine surgery, and more particularly, to guide orthopedic surgical navigation and alignment techniques and instruments. For example, the marker could further be used in any number of guides or templates that attach to the bony anatomy; such as a surgical guide, cutting guide, cutting jig,…
Methods and systems for improving image quality of projection image data acquired using flat panel detectors
Granted: January 8, 2019
Patent Number:
10176601
One example method to improve image quality of projection image data may include obtaining projection image data and channel offset data associated with the projection image data. The channel offset data may be acquired using the flat panel detector and include at least one set of channel offset data values associated with respective channels of the flat panel detector. The method may also include generating channel offset drift data representing one or more variations of the channel…
Radiation treatment planning and delivery using collision free regions
Granted: January 1, 2019
Patent Number:
10166406
Collision free regions are predetermined for one or more class solutions. Each class solution has defined limits for allowed field geometry variations. Collision free regions in planning can be defined as a set of allowed isocenter positions relative to a fixation device. The collision free regions may be visualized by a user to plan for field geometry and isocenter position tradeoffs. Collision free regions in delivery can be defined as a set of allowed couch support coordinates. The…
Dose-distribution estimation in proton therapy
Granted: December 25, 2018
Patent Number:
10159853
A system for estimating a dose from a proton therapy plan includes a memory that stores machine instructions and a processor coupled to the memory that executes the machine instructions to subdivide a representation of a volume of interest in a patient anatomy traversed by a planned proton field into a plurality of voxels. The processor further executes the machine instructions to determine the distance from the source of the planned proton beam to one of the voxels. The processor also…
Systems and methods for automatic training of dose prediction models and treatment plans as a cloud service
Granted: December 25, 2018
Patent Number:
10159851
The present invention proposes a method for automatically training a dose prediction model based on existing clinical knowledge that is accumulated from multiple sources without collaborators establishing communication links between each other. According to embodiments of the claimed subject matter, clinics can collaborate in creating a dose prediction model by submitting their treatment plans into a remote computer system (such as a cloud-based system) which aggregates information from…
Method and system for interactive control of window/level parameters of multi-image displays
Granted: December 11, 2018
Patent Number:
10152951
A method, system, and article of manufacture are described for interactive control of multiple images with a high dynamic range that are displayed simultaneously. A medical image control engine provides several synchronous functional capabilities, which comprises an input module, a blending factor synchronization module, a window/level synchronization module, a display module, and an image storage. For window/level adjustment of two images in blended views, the blending factor…
Detection of damage to X-ray targets in electron accelerators for radiotherapy
Granted: December 11, 2018
Patent Number:
10149988
An x-ray apparatus includes a source configured to generate electrons, a target configured to produce x-rays upon impingement of electrons, and a detector configured to detect electrons penetrating the target or reflected from the incident face of the target, indicative of damage to the target.
Controlling and shaping the dose distribution outside treatment targets in external-beam radiation treatments
Granted: December 4, 2018
Patent Number:
10143859
Streamlined and partially automated methods of setting normal tissue objectives in radiation treatment planning are provided. These methods may be applied to multiple-target cases as well as single-target cases. The methods can impose one or more target-specific dose falloff constraints around each target, taking into account geometric characteristics of each target such as target volume and shape. In some embodiments, methods can also take into account a planner's preferences for target…
