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US 12,420,116 B2Granted
Methods and systems for using and controlling higher dose rate ionizing radiation in short time intervals
AssigneeIntraop Medical Corporation
InventorsKenneth W. Brooks, James A. Nelson, Derek T. DeScioli, Christopher J. Patane, Donald A. Goer
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention provides strategies to use and control the delivery of ionizing radiation to carry out therapeutic and industrial irradiation treatments. The present invention uses partial pulse control, component selection, and/or component configuration strategies in order to accurately monitor and terminate irradiation. The strategies are particularly useful to control dosing in the high dose rate and short time scales associated with FLASH technology.
Claims42
An ionization radiation system that deposits a target dose of pulsed ionizing radiation into a substrate during a treatment, said ionization radiation system comprising:
- a. a pulsed ionizing radiation beam that is aimed at and deposits ionizing radiation into the substrate during the treatment, wherein the pulsed ionizing radiation beam comprises fluence characteristics as the treatment proceeds;
- and
- b. a control system comprising at least one sensor that monitors the pulsed ionizing radiation beam as the treatment proceeds, wherein the at least one sensor comprises a toroid sensor, and wherein:
- i. the toroid sensor provides an output signal indicative of the fluence characteristics of the pulsed ionizing radiation beam as the treatment proceeds;
- ii. the control system comprises program instructions that use information comprising the output signal to determine dose information indicative of the cumulative dose of the ionizing radiation that is deposited into the substrate as the treatment proceeds;
- iii. the toroid sensor has a central bore, and the pulsed ionizing radiation beam passes through the central bore of the toroid sensor;
- iv. the control system comprises program instructions that, as the target dose approaches as the treatment proceeds, proactively adjust a pulse duration of the pulsed ionizing radiation beam so that the cumulative dose deposited into the substrate matches the target dose when the depositing of the pulsed ionizing radiation into the substrate is terminated;
- and
- v. the control system comprises program instructions, that as the target dose approaches, issue a stop signal in advance of reaching the target dose that causes the depositing of the pulsed ionizing radiation into the substrate to be terminated when the target dose is reached.
6 more elements
A method of using a pulsed beam of ionizing radiation to deposit a target dose of the ionizing radiation to a substrate during a treatment, comprising the steps of:
- a. delivering the pulsed beam of ionizing radiation into the substrate, wherein the pulsed ionizing radiation comprises a train of one or more individual pulses, and wherein the pulsed beam of ionization radiation comprises fluence characteristics as the treatment proceeds;
- b. using at least one sensor to provide an output signal indicative of the fluence characteristics of the pulsed beam of ionizing radiation as the treatment proceeds, wherein the at least one sensor comprises a toroid sensor having a central bore, and wherein the pulsed beam of ionizing radiation passes through the central bore of the toroid sensor;
- c. using the output signal to determine dose information indicative of a total cumulative dose deposited into the substrate as the treatment proceeds;
- d. comparing the cumulative dose to the target dose as the treatment proceeds;
- e. as the target dose approaches as the treatment proceeds, proactively adjusting a pulse duration of the pulsed beam of ionizing radiation so that the cumulative dose deposited into the substrate matches the target dose when the depositing of the pulsed beam of ionizing radiation into the substrate is terminated;
- and
- f. issuing a stop signal in advance of reaching the target dose that causes the depositing of the pulsed beam of ionizing radiation into the substrate to be terminated when the target dose is reached.
4 more elements
A method of using pulsed electron beam radiation to deposit a target dose into a substrate during a treatment, comprising the steps of:
- a) using a triode electron gun to help generate the pulsed electron beam radiation, wherein the pulsed electron beam radiation comprises a train of one or more individual pulses, and wherein the pulsed electron beam radiation comprises fluence characteristics as the treatment proceeds;
- b) causing the pulsed electron beam radiation to irradiate the substrate;
- c) using at least one sensor to provide an output signal indicative of the fluence characteristics of the pulsed electron beam radiation as the treatment proceeds, including providing the output signal during the one or more individual pulses, wherein the at least one sensor comprises a toroid sensor having a central bore, and wherein the pulsed beam of ionizing radiation passes through the central bore of the toroid sensor;
- d) using the output signal to determine dose information indicative of a total cumulative dose deposited into the substrate as the treatment proceeds;
- e) comparing the cumulative dose to the target dose as the treatment proceeds;
- f) proactively adjusting a pulse duration of the pulsed beam of ionizing radiation so that the cumulative dose deposited into the substrate matches the target dose when the depositing of the pulsed beam of ionizing radiation into the substrate is terminated;
- and
- g) issuing a stop signal in advance of reaching the target dose that causes the depositing of the pulsed beam of ionizing radiation into the substrate to be terminated when the target dose is reached.
5 more elements
An ionization radiation system that irradiates a substrate with a target dose of pulsed ionizing radiation during a treatment, said system comprising:
- a. a pulsed ionizing electron beam that is aimed at and deposited into the substrate, wherein the pulsed electron beam is provided as a train of one or more individual pulses, and wherein the pulsed electron beam comprises fluence characteristics as the treatment proceeds;
- b. a control system comprising at least one sensor that monitors the pulsed electron beam as the treatment proceeds, wherein the at least one sensor comprises a toroid sensor having a central bore, and wherein the pulsed beam of ionizing radiation passes through the central bore of the toroid sensor, and wherein:
- i. the toroid sensor provides an output signal indicative of the fluence characteristics of the pulsed electron beam the treatment proceeds;
- ii. the control system comprises program instructions that use information comprising the output signal to determine dose information indicative of the cumulative dose of the pulsed electron beam deposited into the substrate as the treatment proceeds;
- iii. the control system comprises program instructions that determine a pulse width modulation for at least one of the pulses using information comprising a comparison between the cumulative dose and the target dose;
- iv. the control system comprises program instructions that, as the target dose approaches as the treatment proceeds, proactively adjust a pulse duration of the pulsed ionizing radiation beam so that the cumulative dose deposited into the substrate matches the target dose when the depositing of the pulsed ionizing radiation into the substrate is terminated;
- and
- v. the control system comprises program instructions, that as the target dose approaches, issue a stop signal in advance of reaching the target dose that causes the depositing of the pulsed ionizing radiation into the substrate to be terminated when the target dose is reached.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.