Arrays of accelerating structures and rapid imaging for facilitating rapid radiation therapies

A method for treating a patient, said method comprising:

• providing a system with an array of accelerating structures for delivering a treatment dose of radiation to a targeted tissue in the patient, wherein each accelerating structure defines a beamline along which a charged particle beam is accelerated when directed therethrough, the beamlines of the array of accelerating structure extending through a common target at the targeted tissue, wherein the array of accelerating structures is a radial array disposed about a first longitudinal axis and a distal portion of each accelerating structure of the array extends toward the common target in a non-coplanar arrangement of beamlines;
• generating one or more charged particle beams and directing the one or more charged particle beams through a select set of accelerating structures of the array;
• steering the one or more charged particle beams directed through the select set of accelerating structures toward the targeted tissue with one or more beam steering devices in each of the select set of accelerating structures;
• and
• accelerating the one or more charged particle beams with the select set of accelerating structures of the array toward the common target such that the one or more charged particle beams or one or more photon beams generated by the one or more charged particle beams are delivered to the common target so as to deliver an entire treatment dose to the targeted tissue at the common center from multiple directions.