The present application relates to a data processing method for determining the position of a soft tissue body part within a patient's body. The data processing method includes acquiring CT-image data including information about the position of the body part within a coordinate system assigned to a transportable CT-device, wherein the patient's body is positioned relative to the treatment device, and wherein the CT-device is configured to be positioned relative to the patient's body and/or relative to the treatment device, acquiring first transformation data including information about a first transformation between the coordinate system assigned to the CT-device and a coordinate system assigned to the treatment device, and determining, based on the CT-image data and the first transformation data, position data including information about the position of the body part within the coordinate system assigned to the treatment device.

Radiation treatment planning includes accessing values of parameters such as a number of beams to be directed into sub-volumes in a target, beam directions, and beam energies. Information that specifies limits for the radiation treatment plan are accessed. The limits include a limit on irradiation time for each sub-volume outside the target. Other limits can include a limit on irradiation time for each sub-volume in the target, a limit on dose rate for each sub-volume in the target, and a limit on dose rate for each sub-volume outside the target. The values of the parameters are adjusted until the irradiation time for each sub-volume outside the target satisfies the maximum limit on irradiation time.

Disclosed is a patient positioning assembly for orientating a patient with respect to a radiation source. The patient positioning assembly includes a translatable member movable in a vertical direction between a vertically downwards first position and a vertically upwards second position. The patient positioning assembly further includes a patient support assembly mounted to the translatable member and adapted to rotate relative to the translatable member about a vertical axis. The patient support assembly is configurable between a first orientation, which sustains the patient in a seated position, and a second orientation, which sustains the patient in a generally standing position.

A camera assembly for use in medical tracking applications having a range camera and a thermographic camera in a fixed relative position. The range camera is configured to acquire a first image of an object at a first instant of time and a second image at a second instant of time. The thermographic camera is configured to acquire a first thermal image of the object at the first instant and a second thermal image at the second instant. A processor identifies at least one point pair in the first thermal image and the second thermal image. The at least one point pair is mapped to corresponding point pairs associated with the first image and the second image. Movement of the object is determined based on the mapping.

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.

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.

The invention relates to radiation therapy system. The system includes a five-degree-of-freedom O-shaped arm radiation therapy device and a six-degree-of-freedom parallel radiation therapy bed. The five-degree-of-freedom O-shaped arm radiation therapy device includes an O-shaped arm movement mechanism, a linear accelerator device, a radiation dose detection device and a double-X-ray machine image positioning mechanism. The O-shaped arm movement mechanism includes an O-shaped arm, an accelerator displacement device, a rotational displacement device, a turning displacement device, a horizontal transverse displacement device, and a horizontal longitudinal displacement device. The double-X-ray machine image positioning mechanism includes an X-ray transmitter and receiver. The six-degree-of-freedom parallel radiation includes a base assembly, a connecting rod assembly and a bed plate assembly. The radiation therapy system of the invention achieves five-degree-of-freedom control of a radiation therapy process with high control accuracy and stability, and has flexible spatial positions and high positioning accuracy of the radiation therapy bed.

The invention comprises a system for determining the state of a charged particle beam, such as beam position, intensity, and/or energy. For example, the charged particle beam state is determined at or about a patient undergoing charged particle cancer therapy using one or more film layers designed to emit photons upon passage of a charged particle beam, which yields information on position and/or intensity of the charged particle beam. The emitted photons are used to calculate position of the treatment beam in imaging and/or during tumor treatment. Optionally and preferably, updating a tomography map uses the same hardware with the same alignment used for cancer therapy at proximately the same time.

The invention comprises a method and apparatus for treating a tumor of a patient with charged particles, comprising the step of developing a multi-modality treatment plan, the multi-modality treatment plan directing: (1) use of a first beam type to treat a first volume of the tumor, the first beam type a first mass per particle and (2) use of a second beam type to treat a second volume of the tumor, the second beam type comprising a second mass per particle, where the second mass per particle is at least ten percent different than the first mass per particle and the second volume differs from the first volume. The multi-modality treatment plan is optionally formed by selectively merging treatment plans using the respective particle types or is developed using properties of the multiple particle types.

A method includes detecting a potential setup error in a radiation treatment delivery session of a radiation treatment delivery system, wherein the setup error corresponds to a change in a current position of a treatment target relative to a prior position of the treatment target, and wherein the change includes a rotation relative to the prior position of the treatment target. The method further includes modifying, by a processing device, one or more planned leaf positions of a multileaf collimator (MLC) of a linear accelerator (LINAC) of the radiation treatment delivery system to compensate for the potential setup error corresponding to the rotation of the prior position of the treatment target.