Positron emission tomography guided proton therapy
AssigneeProNova Solutions, LLC
InventorJon Treffert
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Systems and methods of treating a patient, including a proton treatment system having a proton delivery unit to direct protons to a target area of a patient, the proton treatment system including a positron emission tomography (PET) system having a detector unit to scan for radiotracers introduced into a patient's body, a processing unit to generate location information corresponding to a target area of the patient based on a scanned radiotracer, a guidance unit to receive the location information from the PET system and to instruct the proton delivery unit to direct protons to the target area according to the location information.
Claims15
A proton delivery guidance system for use with a proton treatment system, the proton treatment system having a proton delivery nozzle to direct protons to a target area of a patient, the proton delivery guidance system comprising:
- a positron emission tomography (PET) system having a detector unit to scan for radiotracers introduced into a patient's body, the PET system including a processing unit to generate location information of an image corresponding to a target area of the patient;
- and
- a guidance unit to receive the location information from the PET system and to instruct the proton treatment system to direct protons to the target area according to the location information.
A proton therapy (PT) treatment system, comprising:
- a positron emission tomography (PET) system to scan for radiotracers in a patient;
- a processor to determine concentrations of the radiotracers in a target area of the patient and to provide radiotracer location data;
- a proton beam delivery unit to direct protons to the target area;
- and
- a guidance system to control the proton beam delivery unit to direct protons to the target area utilizing the radiotracer location data.
A method of treating a patient using proton beam therapy (PT), comprising:
- injecting a patient with one or more radiotracers;
- scanning for at least one of the radiotracers utilizing positron emission tomography (PET);
- locating concentrations of the at least one radiotracer in a target area of a patient;
- generating radiotracer location data of the target area;
- and
- radiating the patient with proton beam therapy (PT) utilizing the radiotracer location data,
- wherein the locating and radiating operations are performed simultaneously in real-time.
A proton treatment system having a proton delivery unit to direct protons to a target area of a patient, the proton treatment system comprising:
- a positron emission tomography (PET) system having a detector unit to scan for radiotracers introduced into a patient's body;
- a processing unit to generate location information corresponding to a target area of the patient based on a scanned radiotracer;
- and
- a guidance unit to receive the location information from the PET system and to instruct the proton delivery unit to direct protons to the target area according to the location information.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.