Back to results
US 10,945,605 B2Granted
Combined radiotherapy and MRI apparatus
AssigneeElekta Limited
InventorsGregory Trausch, Kevin Brown, Dan Thompson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present invention provides a combined radiotherapy and MRI system in which an imaging coil is mounted on a mechanical arm. The position of the imaging coil is thus known and in embodiments can be controlled to prevent collisions with the patient and unfavourable interactions between the imaging coil and the radiation beam.
Claims15
A radiotherapy system, comprising:
- a patient support;
- a radiotherapy device configured to generate a therapeutic beam of radiation incident upon a treatment volume;
- a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) apparatus configured to generate imaging data of an imaging volume which encompasses the treatment volume, the MRI apparatus defining a bore in which the patient support can be at least partially positioned;
- an arm;
- and
- an imaging coil, fixedly attached to the MRI apparatus by the arm and arranged within the bore, wherein:
- the imaging coil comprises a conducting coil and electronic circuitry coupled to the conducting coil, such that the electronic circuitry is configured to control the conducting coil and is located along a proximal side of the imaging coil with respect to the arm, and wherein the conducting coil and the electronic circuitry are within the bore;
- the arm has a length extending within the bore toward the proximal side of the imaging coil and is configured to move relative to and within the bore, to prevent the electronic circuitry from intersecting the beam within the bore;
- and
- the imaging coil is configured to detect MRI signals emitted from the imaging volume within the bore.
7 more elements
A radiotherapy system, comprising:
- a radiotherapy device configured to generate a therapeutic beam of radiation incident upon a treatment volume of a patient;
- a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) apparatus having a bore positioned about the treatment volume;
- and
- an imaging coil positioned within the bore and attached to the MRI apparatus by an arm, wherein:
- the imaging coil comprises a conducting coil and electronic circuitry coupled to the conducting coil, such that the electronic circuitry is configured to control the conducting coil and is located along a proximal side of the imaging coil with respect to the arm, and wherein the conducting coil and the electronic circuitry are within the bore;
- the arm has a length extending within the bore toward the proximal side of the imaging coil and is configured to move relative to and within the bore to adjust the position of the imaging coil to prevent the electronic circuitry from intersecting the beam within the bore;
- and
- the imaging coil is configured to detect MRI signals emitted from an imaging volume within the bore.
5 more elements
A radiotherapy system for treating a patient, the system comprising:
- a radiotherapy device configured to generate a therapeutic beam of radiation incident upon a treatment volume of the patient;
- a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) apparatus comprising a bore and configured to generate imaging data of an imaging volume encompassing the treatment volume;
- and
- a patient support at least partially positioned within the bore;
- an imaging coil attached to the MRI apparatus and not placed directly on the patient, wherein:
- the imaging coil comprises a conducting coil and electronic circuitry coupled to the conducting coil, such that the electronic circuitry is configured to control the conducting coil and is located along a proximal side of the imaging coil with respect to the arm, and wherein the conducting coil and the electronic circuitry are within the bore;
- the arm has a length extending within the bore toward the proximal side of the imaging coil and is configured to move relative to and within the bore to adjust the position of the imaging coil to prevent the electronic circuitry from intersecting the beam within the bore;
- and
- the imaging coil is configured to detect MRI signals emitted from the imaging volume within the bore.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.