Methods for treating tumors by administering FLASH radiation and a therapeutic agent to a patient with cancer are disclosed. The methods provide the dual benefits of anti-tumor efficacy plus normal tissue protection when combining therapeutic agents with FLASH radiation to treat cancer patients. The methods described herein also allow for the classification of patients into groups for receiving optimized radiation treatment in combination with a therapeutic agent based on patient-specific biomarker signatures. Also provided are radiation treatment planning methods and systems incorporating FLASH radiation and therapeutic agents.

Methods for treating tumors by administering FLASH radiation and a therapeutic agent to a patient with cancer are disclosed. The methods provide the dual benefits of anti-tumor efficacy plus normal tissue protection when combining therapeutic agents with FLASH radiation to treat cancer patients. The methods described herein also allow for the classification of patients into groups for receiving optimized radiation treatment in combination with a therapeutic agent based on patient-specific biomarker signatures. Also provided are radiation treatment planning methods and systems incorporating FLASH radiation and therapeutic agents.

A control circuit accesses historical information regarding previously optimized radiation treatment plans for different patients and processes that information to determine the relative importance of different clinical goals. The circuit then facilitates development of a particular plan for a particular patient as a function of the relative importance of the clinical goals. By one approach the control circuit can be configured as a radiation treatment plan recommendation resource that accesses a database of radiation treatment plan formulation content items including at least one of a radiation treatment plan template, an auto-planning algorithm, and an auto-segmentation algorithm. By one approach the control circuit can be configured to, when presenting automatically-generated radiation treatment plans to a user, also co-present an opportunity for the user to signal to a remote entity that none of the plans are acceptable and that the user will instead employ a user-generated plan for the particular patient.

An example particle therapy system includes a particle accelerator to output a particle beam having a spot size; a scanning system for the particle accelerator to scan the particle beam in two dimensions across at least part of a treatment area of an irradiation target; and an adaptive aperture between the scanning system and the irradiation target. The adaptive aperture includes structures that are movable relative to the irradiation target to approximate a shape to trim part of the treatment area. The part of the treatment area has a size that is based on an area of the spot size.

An example particle therapy system includes a particle accelerator to output a particle beam having a spot size; a scanning system for the particle accelerator to scan the particle beam in two dimensions across at least part of a treatment area of an irradiation target; and an adaptive aperture between the scanning system and the irradiation target. The adaptive aperture includes structures that are movable relative to the irradiation target to approximate a shape to trim part of the treatment area. The part of the treatment area has a size that is based on an area of the spot size.

The present invention makes it possible to reliably verify irradiation with a particle beam in accordance with a selected irradiation technique. A particle beam therapy system includes a charged particle beam generator accelerating the particle beam, an irradiator irradiating a target with the particle beam accelerated by the charged particle beam generator, and a controller controlling the charged particle beam generator and the irradiator. The controller controls the charged particle beam generator and the irradiator so as to irradiate the target with the particle beam through switching between at least two different irradiation techniques, and furthermore, after switching between the two irradiation techniques, controls the charged particle beam generator and the irradiator to perform tentative irradiation with the charged particle beam in accordance with one of the irradiation techniques switched, to verify the particle beam.

The embodiments of the present disclosure provide a radiation therapy device. The radiation therapy device may comprise a beam generating device, a scanning magnet, and one or more focusing magnets. The beam generating device may be configured to generate a charged particle beam. The scanning magnet may be configured to diverge the charged particle beam. The one or more focusing magnets may be configured to deflect the charged particle beam diverged by the scanning magnet.

For planning radiation treatment, candidate radiation treatment plans are evaluated and optimized using an objective function that includes a combination of a first objective function and a second objective function. The first objective function is configured for determining a value of a dose metric. The second objective function is configured for determining a value of a term that is added to the value of the dose metric to account for spots or beam lets that have a weight that is greater than zero and less than a minimum threshold value. The value of the term is added to the value of the dose metric. In effect, spots or beam lets with a weight that is not zero and that is also less than a minimum threshold value are penalized during treatment planning.

A computer implemented method of developing a radiation treatment plan comprising spot scanning of a treatment target comprising accessing information associated with a patient and information pertaining to a radiation delivery machine. The method further comprises determining an area associated with the treatment target, wherein the area comprises a plurality of spots and computing a weighting for each spot of the plurality of spots, wherein the weighting is associated with a number of protons delivered at a respective spot. Further, the method comprises computing timing related parameters based on information retrieved from the radiation delivery machine and determining a transition dose delivered by the radiation delivery machine during the transition from one spot to another spot when irradiating the treatment target.

Presented systems and methods enable efficient and effective radiation planning and treatment, including accurate and convenient transmission of the radiation towards a tissue target. In one embodiment, a radiation system includes an electron gun, a bend magnet, a scan control component, and an electron beam entry angle control component. The electron gun is configured to generate electrons. The linear accelerator is configured to accelerate the electrons in an electron beam. The bend magnet is configured to bend the path of the electron beam. The scan control component controls movement of the electron beam in a scan pattern. The electron beam entry angle control component is configured to control the entry angle of the electron beam.