The invention comprises a method and apparatus for imaging and treating a tumor of a patient using positively charged particles and X-rays. A mounting rail, supporting a scintillation detection system element and an X-ray detection system element, is alternatingly extended/retracted to position the required detection system element opposite a patient tumor position from an exit nozzle of a beam transport system connected to an accelerator of the positively charged particles, where the positively charged particles are alternatingly used to treat the tumor via irradiation. The mounting rail optionally rotates with rotation of the exit nozzle about the patient, such as with rotation of a support gantry.

A radiation-treatment plan that comprises a plurality of dose-delivery fractions can be optimized by using fraction dose objectives and at least one other, different dose objective. This use of fraction dose objectives can comprise accumulating doses delivered in previous dose-delivery fractions. The other, different dose objective can comprise a remaining total dose objective, a predictive dose objective, or some other dose objective of choice. An existing radiation-treatment plan having a corresponding resultant quality and that is defined, at least in part, by at least one delivery parameter can be re-optimized by specifying at least one constraint as regards that delivery parameter as a function, at least in part, of that resultant quality and then applying that constraint when re-optimizing the existing radiation-treatment plan.

A magnetic resonance transmit and/or receive antenna system configured for being used in combination with a magnetic resonance radiotherapy system. The antenna system can include at least one antenna for transmitting and/or receiving radio frequency signals and a cover enclosing the antenna components. The antenna can include antenna components and the cover can include a spatially varying thickness and/or density towards an outer edge of the surface and/or next to an antenna component as to make the change in radiation attenuation between the enclosing cover compared to the antenna component and/or air more gradual.

A method and apparatus is presented for optimizing a treatment plan for irradiation therapy. The method includes defining a single objective function based on a plurality of objective functions that are each associated with a plurality of tissue types within a subject, upper and lower bounds for each objective function and a plurality of apertures. The method also includes determining a radiation dose delivered to voxels of each tissue type based on minimizing the single objective function based on the plurality of apertures with initial values at each angle. The method also includes delivering a beam of radiation with controlled intensity and beam cross-sectional shape at each angle based on the plurality of apertures.

The invention comprises a patient specific tray insert removably inserted into a tray frame to form a beam control tray assembly, which is removably inserted into a slot of a tray receiver assembly proximate a gantry nozzle of a charged particle cancer treatment system. Optionally, multiple tray inserts, each used to control a different beam state parameter, are inserted into corresponding slots of the tray receiver assembly where the multiple inserts are used to control beam intensity, shape, focus, and/or energy. The beam control tray assembling includes an identifier, such as an electromechanical identifier, of the particular insert type, which is communicated to a main controller, such as via the tray receiver assembly along with slot position and/or patient information.

Methods and systems are disclosed for radiating a moving object. The method may comprise acquiring a plurality of indicators of the phase of a physiological cycle of a patient and a plurality of images of the patient that include a target. Each image may be taken at a different phase of the physiological cycle and may be registered to the phase at which the image was taken. The method may also include identifying the target in each of the plurality of images, calculating a dose of radiation required to treat the target, calculating the number, orientation, and dwell time of one or more radiation beams required to deliver the calculated required dose of radiation to the target, and calculating a position of each of the one or more radiation beams required to achieve the calculated orientation. Each position may be a function of the phase of the physiological cycle to which each of the plurality of images is registered.

Particle radiation therapy and planning utilizing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data. Radiation therapy prescription information and patient MRI data can be received and a radiation therapy treatment plan can be determined for use with a particle beam. The treatment plan can utilize the radiation therapy prescription information and the patient MRI data to account for interaction properties of soft tissues in the patient through which the particle beam passes. Patient MRI data may be received from a magnetic resonance imaging system integrated with the particle radiation therapy system. MRI data acquired during treatment may also be utilized to modify or optimize the particle radiation therapy treatment.

A method of operating imaging and tracking. The method includes determining, for each angle of a plurality of angles from which tracking images can be generated by an imaging device, a value of a tracking quality metric for tracking a target based on an analysis of a projection generated at that angle. The method also includes selecting, by a processing device, a subset of the plurality of angles that have a tracking quality metric value that satisfies a tracking quality metric criterion, one or more angles of the subset to be used to generate a tracking image of the target during a treatment stage, wherein the subset comprises at least a first angle and a second angle that is at least separated by a minimum threshold from the first angle.

It is an object of the invention to address the above mentioned issues related to image quality and patient positioning. This object is achieved by a mock-up antenna configured to be used during radiation treatment delivery, wherein the radiation treatment is delivered based on a radiation treatment plan and wherein the radiation treatment plan is at least partly based on a planning magnetic resonance image. The mock-up antenna is substantially transparent to radiation and comprises connection means configured to allow a connection between the mock up antenna and a fixation means, which fixation means is configured to fixate a position of the mock-up antenna during radiation treatment and. The mock-up antenna further comprises an inner surface configured to be positioned towards a patient in a way such that is affects a position and/or orientation of the patient during radiation treatment delivery, wherein the inner surface has a shape substantially similar to a shape of a working magnetic resonance imaging antenna used during an acquisition of the planning magnetic resonance image.

Systems and methods arc disclosed for generating radio-therapy treatment machine parameters based on projection images of a target anatomy. The systems and methods include receiving an image depicting an anatomy of a subject: generating a first projection image based on the received image that represents a view of the anatomy from a first gantry angle of tire radiotherapy treatment machine; applying a machine learning model to the first projection image to estimate a first graphical aperture image representation of multi-leaf collimator (MLC) leaf positions at the first gantry angle and the radiation intensity at that angle, the machine learning model being trained to establish a relationship between projection images representing different views of a patient anatomy and respective graphical aperture image representations of the MLC leaf positions at different gantry angles corresponding to the different views: and generating radiotherapy treatment machine parameters based on the first graphical aperture image representation.