An example method of radiation therapy in a radiation therapy system that includes a gantry with a treatment-delivering X-ray source and an imaging X-ray source mounted thereon is described. The method includes rotating the gantry in a first direction at a first rotational velocity about an open bore and concurrently rotating an annular support structure at a second rotational velocity about the open bore, wherein the second rotational velocity is less than the first rotational velocity. While continuing to rotate the gantry in the first direction about the open bore from a first position to a treatment position, the method also includes generating multiple images of a target volume disposed in the bore using the imaging X-ray source. Upon rotating the gantry to the treatment position, the method includes initiating delivery of a treatment beam to the target volume with the treatment-delivering X-ray source.

Multi-modal imaging capsule for image-guided proton beam therapy, consisting of a biocompatible polymer layer, .sup.18O-enriched water, and a contrast agent. The biocompatible capsule may be inserted near or inside a tumor under the guidance of X-ray, magnetic resonance, or ultrasonography imaging. Upon proton beam irradiation, the capsule emits positrons, allowing the tumor to be imaged and tracked by a PET detector.

Dose analysis radiotherapy systems and methods for determine delivered radiotherapy dose, dose rate, irradiation time and position information and planned radiotherapy dose, dose rate, irradiation time and position information. The dose analysis systems and methods further compare the as delivered dose, dose rate, irradiation time and position information to the planned dose, dose rate, irradiation time and position information to generate a graphical representation of one or more of the delivered dose, dose rate, irradiation time and position information versus planned dose, dose rate, irradiation time and position information.

For delivering an image-guided radiation therapy treatment to a moving structure included in a region of a patient body a series of first images of the region of the patient body in different phases of a motion of the structure is acquired in accordance with a first imaging mode. The series of first images is associated with a series of second images of the patient body in essentially the same phases of the motion of the target structure, the second images being acquired in a second imaging mode. During the treatment, a third image is acquired using the second imaging mode during the radiation therapy treatment and a continuation of the radiation therapy treatment is planned on the basis of data relating to one of the first images selected on the basis of a comparison between the third image and the second images associated with the first images.

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a positioning method and apparatus, and a radiation therapy system. The positioning method comprises: acquiring a current gamma angle before radiation beams of a radiation source illuminate a treatment body part; acquiring a reconstructed image corresponding to the current gamma angle, the reconstructed image being an image reconstructed according to an image of the treatment body part acquired in advance; acquiring an IGRT image of the treatment body part corresponding to the current gamma angle, the IGRT image being an image generated by an image guide system; and comparing the reconstructed image with the IGRT image to obtain a deviation of the position of the treatment body part, and sending out the deviation, so that the position of the treatment body part is adjusted according to the deviation when the deviation is greater than a preset threshold.

A computer-implemented method for generating a radiation therapy treatment plan for a volume of a patient, the method comprising: receiving an image of the volume; receiving at least one dose-distribution-derived function configured to provide a value as an output based on, as input, at least part of a dose distribution defined relative to said image; receiving a first probability distribution and at least a second, different, probability distribution, the first and at least second probability distributions; defining a multi-criteria optimization problem comprising at least a first objective function based on the at least one dose-distribution-derived function, the first probability distribution and a loss function; and a second objective function based on the at least one dose-distribution-derived function, the second probability distribution and the loss function; and performing a multi-criteria optimization process based on said at least two objective functions to generate at least two output treatment plans.

A method may include obtaining input data relating to a target treatment plan for performing radiotherapy on a lesion using a radiation device. The input data may include a first target image of the lesion. The method may also include obtaining a segment shape estimation model. The method may also include estimating, based on the segment shape estimation model and the input data, a plurality of target location combinations of the target treatment plan and a plurality of target segment shapes of a collimator of the radiation device. One of the plurality of target location combinations may indicate a location of the collimator relative to the lesion. Each of the plurality of target segment shapes may correspond to one of the plurality of target location combinations.

A computerized method of providing automatic anatomy recognition (AAR) includes gathering image data from patient image sets, formulating precise definitions of each body region and organ and delineating them following the definitions, building hierarchical fuzzy anatomy models of organs for each body region, recognizing and locating organs in given images by employing the hierarchical models, and delineating the organs following the hierarchy. The method may be applied, for example, to body regions including the thorax, abdomen and neck regions to identify organs.

A system includes a memory, configured to store program instructions, and a processor. The processor is configured to load the program instructions from the memory, and by executing the program instructions, to process a three-dimensional image of a portion of a body of a subject in which multiple brachytherapy to identify clusters of voxels of the image corresponding to the seed groups, respectively, to compute respective estimated positions of the brachytherapy seeds based on respective dimensions of each of the clusters, and to store or communicate the estimated positions for use in computing an effective dose of the brachytherapy seeds. Other embodiments are also described.

An implant planning system aids delivery of radiation to tumor sites of a patient. The system allows a user to test various combinations of virtual implants, each associated with a corresponding physical implant (e.g., a carrier with an embedded radioactive seed), and to view the dosage area of the virtual implants so that adjustments to the virtual implants may be made until a prescribed dose of radiation to a treatment area is achieved. A treatment plan developed based on the virtual implants may then be used in surgical implantation of the corresponding physical implants. For example, the implant configuration of the treatment plan may be projected onto a treatment surface of a patient, such as in a surgical room, so that physical implants may be placed according to the projected image of the virtual implants.