Radiation Therapy Guided Using PET Imaging

A method for radiation therapy of a patient comprising:

• locating a patient on a patient support device, the patient having a lesion requiring radiation therapy;
• while the patient is on the patient support device using a first imaging system to obtain one or more first images of a location of the lesion within the patient;
• while the patient is on the patient support device using a source of radiation therapy on a gantry to apply a controlled guided beam of radiation to the lesion by rotation of the source around an axis passing through the lesion;
• applying to the patient a suitable radioisotope for PET imaging of gamma radiation emitted by the lesion;
• providing a plurality of PET detectors lying in a circular array around the lesion for detecting the gamma emissions to generate a PET image;
• during the application of the radiation therapy obtaining images of the lesion or a location on the body of the patient correlated with the lesion using the array of PET detectors responsive to the emitted gamma radiation so as to determine movement of the lesion which occurs during the radiation therapy;
• registering the images of the lesion obtained by the PET detectors with said one or more images obtained by the imaging system;
• and controlling the dose applied by the source of radiation in response to the movement of the lesion detected by the PET detectors.