A dynamic pinhole aperture is configured for use with charged particle therapy systems, such as proton therapy systems. In general, the dynamic pinhole aperture includes a small and mobile pinhole aperture. The dynamic pinhole aperture is designed to be movable with the beam during irradiation, which allows for reducing the size of each discrete spot and, therefore, the target dose penumbra. The dynamic pinhole aperture is carefully designed to balance the reduction of spot sizes (thus target dose penumbra) and the reduction of beam transmission ratios, which allows for the device to be used clinically to treat large tumors.

The invention provides a charged particle irradiation apparatus including: a collimator apparatus provided in an irradiation nozzle that emits a charged particle beam to an irradiation target; and a collimator control unit that controls the collimator apparatus. The collimator apparatus includes a collimator mechanism having one or more arm-shape collimators extending from a base part and a drive mechanism that moves the collimator mechanism on a plane perpendicular to a traveling direction of a charged particle beam. The arm-shape collimator includes one or more movable leaves that rotate independently of each other on the perpendicular plane. By moving the collimator mechanism and/or rotating the movable leaves so that the arm-shape collimators are arranged along a shape of an edge of an irradiation target on the perpendicular plane, the collimator control unit causes the arm-shape collimators to block a charged particle beam that would otherwise irradiate outside of the edge of the irradiation target.

An example system includes a particle accelerator to produce a particle beam to treat a patient and a carrier having openings including a first opening and a second opening. The carrier is made of a material that inhibits transmission of the particle beam and the carrier is located between the particle accelerator and the patient. A control system is configured to control movement of the particle beam to the first opening to enable at least part of the particle beam to reach the patient, to change an energy of the particle beam while the particle beam remains stationary at the first opening, and to control movement of the particle beam from the first opening to the second opening. The example system also includes an energy degrader that includes at least some boron carbide.

An example method of treating a target using particle beam includes directing the particle beam along a path at least part-way through the target, and controlling an energy of the particle beam while the particle beam is directed along the path so that the particle beam treats at least interior portions of the target that are located along the path. While the particle beam is directed along the path, the particle beam delivers a dose of radiation to the target that exceeds one (1) Gray-per-second for a duration of less than five (5) seconds. A treatment plan may be generated to perform the method.

Cost functions and cost function gradients for use in radiation treatment planning can be computed based on an approximation of an “isodose” surface. Where a clinical goal is expressed by reference to a threshold isodose surface, a corresponding cost function component can be defined directly by reference to that isodose surface, and a corresponding contribution to the cost function gradient can be approximated by identifying voxels that are intersected by the threshold isodose surface and approximating the gradient of the dose distribution within each such voxel.

The invention provides a charged particle irradiation apparatus including: a collimator apparatus provided in an irradiation nozzle that emits a charged particle beam to an irradiation target; and a collimator control unit that controls the collimator apparatus. The collimator apparatus includes a collimator mechanism having one or more arm-shape collimators extending from a base part and a drive mechanism that moves the collimator mechanism on a plane perpendicular to a traveling direction of a charged particle beam. The arm-shape collimator includes one or more movable leaves that rotate independently of each other on the perpendicular plane. By moving the collimator mechanism and/or rotating the movable leaves so that the arm-shape collimators are arranged along a shape of an edge of an irradiation target on the perpendicular plane, the collimator control unit causes the arm-shape collimators to block a charged particle beam that would otherwise irradiate outside of the edge of the irradiation target.

The disclosure provides systems and methods for adjusting a multi-leaf collimator (MLC). The MLC includes a plurality of cross-layer leaf pairs each of which includes a first leaf located in a first layer of leaves and a second leaf opposingly located in a second layer of leaves. For at least one cross-layer leaf pair, an effective cross-layer leaf gap to be formed between the first leaf and the second leaf may be determined; at least one of the first leaf or the second leaf may be caused to move to form the effective cross-layer leaf gap; and an in-layer leaf gap may be caused, based on the effective cross-layer leaf gap, to be formed between the first leaf and an opposing first leaf in the first layer. A size of the in-layer leaf gap may be no less than a threshold.

Embodiments of the present invention disclose methods and systems for proton therapy planning that includes proton energy and spot optimization that discretizes layers and spots using an optimization algorithm to produce an optimal distribution of layer energies and spots with a relatively smooth dose distribution. The treatment planning algorithms disclosed herein can freely choose the number of spots and the energy levels of the spots. In this way, each spot can be treated as its own layer and is not constrained by the requirements of other spots/layers. Thereafter, the spots defined by the algorithm can be sorted in a list according to energy levels/depth, and the spots can be grouped into blocks according to intensity and location. The blocks can be assigned energy levels based on the corresponding spots, such as an average of all the spots associated with the block. The blocks then are used as the energy layers applied by the proton therapy treatment system.

A charged particle beam treatment apparatus includes an irradiator that irradiates an irradiation target with a charged particle beam by a scanning method, in which the irradiator includes a scanning electromagnet that performs scanning with the charged particle beam, is rotatable around the irradiation target by a rotating gantry, and emits the charged particle beam with a base axis orthogonal to a center line of the rotating gantry and passing through the center line as a reference, and when the scanning electromagnet is not operated, the charged particle beam which is emitted from a tip portion of the irradiator is inclined in one direction with respect to the base axis.

A high-intensity external ion injector can includes (a) an ion source defining a plasma chamber and including an aperture through which ions can escape the plasma chamber, (b) a microwave source configured to generate microwave radiation and direct the microwave radiation into the plasma chamber, (c) a gas source filled with a plasma-forming gas and configured to supply the plasma-forming gas to the plasma chamber, (d) a voltage source configured to apply a voltage to the plasma chamber, (e) an einzel triplet lens, (f) an ion focus positioned and configured to focus an ion beam exiting the aperture of the ion source through the einzel triplet lens, and (g) a periodic focusing structure positioned and configured to receive an ion beam exiting the einzel triplet lens.