Patient positioning assembly

A patient positioning assembly comprising:

• a support device to support a patient thereon;
• a robotic arm assembly coupled to the support device, wherein the robotic arm assembly is configured to orient the support device by rotating the support device about roll-, pitch-, and yaw-axes for three rotational degrees of freedom, wherein the robotic arm assembly comprises:
• a base member;
• a plate member rotatably mounted on said base member, wherein the plate member is configured to rotate about a first axis to translate the support device in a fourth degree of freedom;
• a first arm having a first end rotatably attached to said plate member, and a second end, wherein the first arm is configured to rotate about a second axis to translate the support device in a fifth degree of freedom;
• and
• a second arm having a first end rotatably attached to the second end of said first arm, and a second end, wherein the second arm is configured to rotate about a third axis to translate the support device in a sixth degree of freedom, wherein the fourth, fifth, and sixth degrees of freedom are used for translations along mutually orthogonal x-, y-, and z-coordinate axes, wherein the six degrees of freedom are independent degrees of freedom;
• and
• a controller operatively connected to said robotic arm assembly to control the movement of said robotic arm assembly, wherein said controller has pre-programmed therein at least one substantially horizontal position or one substantially vertical position of said support device to load and unload said patient.

A patient positioning assembly for adjusting patient position during a therapeutic radiation treatment using a therapeutic radiation treatment system,

• wherein said patient positioning assembly comprises:
• a support device to support a patient thereon;
• and
• a robotic arm assembly coupled to the support device, wherein the robotic arm assembly is configured to orient the support device by rotating the support device about roll-, pitch-, and yaw-axes for three rotational degrees of freedom, wherein the robotic arm assembly comprises:
• a base member;
• a plate member rotatably mounted on said base member, wherein the plate member is configured to rotate about a first axis to translate the support device for a first translational degree of freedom;
• a first arm having a first end rotatably attached to said plate member, and a second end, wherein the first arm is configured to rotate about a second axis to translate the support device for a second translational degree of freedom;
• and
• a second arm having a first end rotatably attached to the second end of said first arm, and a second end, wherein the second arm is configured to rotate about a third axis to translate the support device for a third translational degree of freedom, wherein the three translational degrees of freedom are used for translations along mutually orthogonal x-, y-, and z-coordinate axes, wherein the three rotational degrees of freedom and the three translational degrees of freedom are independent degrees of freedom.

A patient positioning assembly for adjusting patient position during a therapeutic radiation treatment using a therapeutic radiation treatment system, said therapeutic radiation treatment system including a therapeutic radiation source to generate at least one therapeutic radiation beam, and an image system to generate image data representative of at least one image of a treatment target, said image data containing information regarding the near real time position of said treatment target with respect to a treatment coordinate system,

• wherein said patient positioning assembly comprises:
• a robotic positioning device to support and to move the patient loaded on said robotic positioning device during treatment, wherein said robotic positioning device is configured to move said patient in at least five independent degrees of freedom, wherein the robotic positioning device is configured to orient the patient by rotations about roll-, pitch-, and yaw-axes for three rotational degrees of freedom, and wherein the robotic positioning device is configured to position the patient by rotations about two axes to translate the patient for two translational degrees of freedom, wherein said robotic positioning device comprises:
• a support device to support said patient thereon;
• a robotic arm assembly coupled to the support device, wherein the robotic arm assembly comprises:
• an arm assembly extending between a first end and second end, wherein the second end is rotatably connected to the support device to allow the support device to rotate about three axes, respectively, wherein rotations about the three axes rotate the treatment table in three rotational degrees of freedom;
• and
• a plate member rotatably connected to first end of the arm assembly to allow the arm assembly to rotate about a first axis, wherein rotations about the first axis translate the support device in a first translational degree of freedom;
• and
• a base member rotatably connected to the plate member to allow the plate member to rotate about a second axis, wherein rotations about the second axis translate the support device in a second translational degree of freedom;
• a sensor system to detect the position of said robotic positioning device relative to said treatment coordinate system;
• and
• a controller operatively connected:
• (i) with said sensor system to receive position data of said robotic positioning device, (ii) to said therapeutic radiation treatment system to receive near real time image data of said treatment target and information representative of the position of said therapeutic radiation source, and (iii) to said robotic positioning device and is programmed to control the movement of said robotic positioning device to align said treatment target with said therapeutic radiation source.

A patient positioning assembly for aligning a target within a patient's anatomy with respect to a therapeutic radiation treatment system, said therapeutic radiation treatment system including a treatment beam generator and an imaging system to generate one or more images of said target in near real time, said patient positioning assembly comprising:

• a. a robotic positioning device to move and to support the patient during treatment, said robotic positioning device comprising a support device to support said patient and a robotic arm to move said support device, wherein said robotic arm is configured to move said support device in at least five independent degrees of freedom, wherein the robotic arm is configured to orient the support device by rotations about roll-, pitch-, and yaw-axes for three rotational degrees of freedom, and wherein the robotic arm is configured to position the support device by rotations about two axes for two translational degrees of freedom;
• b. a sensor system to sense the position of said support means, and to generate data representative the position of said support device;
• c. a controller to control the motion of said robotic positioning device in order to align said target with respect to said treatment beam generator, said controller comprising:
• i) means for receiving image data containing information regarding the near real time position and orientation of said target with respect to a treatment coordinate system;
• ii) means, responsive to said position data from said sensor system and said image data from said imaging system, for generating at least one motion command signal for implementing one or more corrective motions of said robotic positioning device, wherein said corrective motions of said robotic positioning device substantially align said target, as shown in said near real-time image data of said target, with said treatment beam generator.

A therapeutic radiation treatment system for treating a target in a patient, comprising:

• i). a therapeutic radiation treatment apparatus comprising:
• a. a therapeutic radiation source to generate therapeutic radiation;
• and
• b. an imaging system to generate image data representative of one or more near real time images of said target, said image data containing information regarding the near real time position of said target with respect to a treatment coordinate system;
• ii). a patient positioning device to support and to move and the patient during treatment, wherein the patient positioning device is configured to orient the patient by rotations about roll-, pitch-, and yaw-axes for three rotational degrees of freedom, and wherein the patient positioning device is configured to position the patient by rotations about three axes for three translational degrees of freedom, said patient positioning device comprising:
• a. a base member;
• b. a plate member rotatably mounted on said base member;
• c. a first arm having a first end rotatably attached to said plate member, and a second end;
• d. a second arm having a first end rotatably attached to the second end of said first arm, and a second end;
• and
• e. a support device for supporting said patient thereon, wherein said support device is rotatably attached to said second end of said second arm, wherein said support device is configured to move said patient in six independent degrees of freedom, wherein the base member is configured to allow the plate member to rotate about a first axis for a first translational degree of freedom, wherein the plate member is configured to allow the first arm to rotate about a second axis for a second translational degree of freedom, wherein the first arm is configured to allow the second arm to rotate about a third axis for a third translational degree of freedom, wherein the three translational degrees of freedom are used for translations along mutually orthogonal x-, y-, and z-coordinate axes, wherein the three rotational degrees of freedom and the three translational degrees of freedom are independent degrees of freedom;
• iii). a sensor system to sense the position of said patient positioning device, and to generate data representative the position of said patient positioning device;
• and
• iv). a controller operatively connected with said sensor system to receive-position data of said patient positioning device and operatively connected to said therapeutic radiation treatment apparatus to receive near real time image data of said treatment target and information representative of the position of said therapeutic radiation source,
• wherein said controller is operatively connected to said patient positioning device and is programmed to control the movement of said patient positioning device, responsive to said position data from said sensor system, said image data and the position information of said therapeutic radiation source from said therapeutic radiation treatment apparatus, to align said treatment target with said therapeutic radiation source.