X-ray and electron radiotherapy clinical treatment machine
AssigneeVarian Associates, Inc.
InventorCraig S. Nunan
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A radiotherapy machine includes a microwave powered accelerator to produce an energetic beam of charged particles, bending and focussing magnets to parallel scan the beam in a plane and collimators to make the resulting parallel scanned beam into paraxial rays of charged particles or X-rays. The beam is intensity modulated as it is scanned to control dosage spatial distribution. The subject is moved perpendicular to the scanning plane in order to treat a 3-dimensional shape.
Claims20
A radiotherapy clinical treatment machine comprising:
- a microwave accelerator means for producing a high velocity paraxial beam of charged particles of finite energy spread along a first axis;
- a means for scanning the beam with time in a scanning plane defined as that containing a second and third axis of the beam;
- such that the second axis of the scanned beam at a first time is parallel to the third axis of the scanned beam at any second time;
- and
- a means for modulating the intensity of the beam while the beam is being scanned.
A radiotherapy clinical treatment machine comprising:
- a microwave accelerator means for producing a paraxial beam of electrons of finite energy spread having mean energy of at least 1 MeV;
- means for forming the beam of electrons into a narrowly collimated beam;
- means for scanning as a function of time the narrowly collimated beam of electrons in a plane such that the axis of a narrowly collimated beam of electrons at a first time is parallel to the axis of a narrowly collimated beam of electrons at any second time.
A radiotherapy clinical treatment machine comprising:
- a microwave accelerator means for producing a paraxial beam of electrons of finite energy spread having mean energy of at least 1 MeV;
- an X-ray target means for converting the energy of the electron beam produced by said accelerator into X-rays;
- means for forming the beam of X-rays into a narrowly collimated beam of X-rays having small penumbra;
- means for scanning as a function of time the narrowly collimated beam of X-rays in a plane such that the axis of a narrowly collimated beam of X-rays at a first time is parallel to the axis of a narrowly collimated beam of X-rays at any second time.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.