Patient alignment system with external measurement and object coordination for radiation therapy system

A method of registering and positioning a patient for delivery of therapy with a system having a plurality of components subject to movement, the method comprising the steps of:

• positioning a patient in an initial treatment pose with a controllable patient positioner;
• externally measuring the location of selected points of the plurality of components so as to determine the orientation of the plurality of components in a substantially fixed first frame of reference;
• determining a difference vector between the observed initial patient pose with respect to the externally measured location of selected points of the plurality of components in the first frame of reference and a desired patient pose;
• and
• providing movement commands based on the difference vector to the patient positioner to bring the patient to the desired patient pose.

A positioning system for use with a radiation treatment facility wherein the radiation treatment facility has a plurality of components that include a source of particles and a nozzle from which the particles are emitted, wherein the nozzle is movable with respect to the patient to facilitate delivery of the particles to a selected region of the patient via a plurality of different paths, the positioning system comprising:

• a patient positioner that receives the patient wherein the patient positioner is movable so as to orient the patient with respect to the nozzle to facilitate delivery of the particles in the selected region of the patient;
• a component movement monitoring system that provides movement signals indicative of the movement of the nozzle;
• a monitoring system that images at lest one component of the radiation treatment facility in proximity to the patient positioner, wherein the monitoring system develops a treatment image indicative of the orientation of the at least one component with respect to the patient prior to treatment;
• and
• a control system that controls delivery of particles to the patient wherein the control system receives signals indicative of the treatment to be performed the signals including a desired orientation of the nozzle when the particles are to be delivered to the patient, wherein the control system further receives the movement signals from the component movement monitoring system and the treatment image and the control system evaluates the movement signals and the treatment image to determine an actual orientation of the at least one component prior to treatment and wherein the control system compares the actual orientation of the at least one component prior to treatment to the desired orientation of the at least one component and, if the actual orientation does not meet a pre-determined criteria for correspondence with the desired orientation, the control system sends signals to the patient positioner to move the patient positioner such that the actual orientation more closely corresponds to the desired orientation during delivery of the particles.