System for emission-guided high-energy photon delivery

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10695586-B2
Application number	US-201715814222-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 15, 2017
Priority date	Nov 15, 2016
Publication date	Jun 30, 2020
Grant date	Jun 30, 2020

Abstract

Disclosed herein are radiation therapy systems and methods. These radiation therapy systems and methods are used for emission-guided radiation therapy, where gamma rays from markers or tracers that are localized to patient tumor regions are detected and used to direct radiation to the tumor. The radiation therapy systems described herein comprise a gantry comprising a rotatable ring coupled to a stationary frame via a rotating mechanism such that the rotatable ring rotates up to about 70 RPM, a radiation source (e.g., MV X-ray source) mounted on the rotatable ring, and one or more PET detectors mounted on the rotatable ring.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A radiation therapy system comprising:
a gantry comprising a stationary frame and a rotatable ring configured to rotate up to 70 RPM;
a slip-ring located between the stationary frame and the rotatable ring and configured to communicate electrical signals therebetween while the rotatable ring rotates up to 70 RPM;
a therapeutic radiation source mounted on the gantry; and
one or more positron emission tomography (PET) detectors mounted on the gantry.

2. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a first controller located on the rotatable ring and a second controller on the stationary frame, where the first controller generates control commands for the therapeutic radiation source and the one or more PET detectors, the second controller generates control commands for a gantry motion system, and synchronization data between the first controller and the second controller is transferred via the slip-ring.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the first controller is configured to generate a signal for activating the therapeutic radiation source and acquiring PET data, wherein the second controller is configured to generate a signal for rotating the ring, and a synchronization signal is transmitted between the first and second controllers via the slip-ring to synchronize activation of the therapeutic radiation source, acquisition of the PET data and gantry motion.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the slip-ring comprises a data brush block and a power brush block.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the rotatable ring comprises a drum having a first ring-shaped end surface, a second ring-shaped end surface opposite the first end surface, and a length therebetween such that deflection of the first and second end surfaces is less than about 0.5 mm when the ring rotates up to 70 RPM.

6. The system of claim 5 , further comprising a housing that defines a volume that encloses the gantry, the housing comprising one or more lateral hatches along the length of the drum that are configured to allow access to the therapeutic radiation source and the one or more PET detectors.

7. The system of claim 5 , wherein the therapeutic radiation source comprises a linear accelerator (linac) and a magnetron, wherein the linac is attached along the length of the drum by a first mounting assembly and enclosed in a radiation shield that is separate from the linac and first mounting assembly, and wherein the magnetron is radially mounted along the length of the drum such that a cathode support of the magnetron is aligned with a direction of a centripetal force that is generated while the rotatable ring rotates up to 70 RPM.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the one or more PET detectors are mounted along the length of the drum.

9. The system of claim 7 , wherein the radiation shield is mounted to the gantry using a second mounting assembly that is separate from the first mounting assembly.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the second mounting assembly does not directly contact the first mounting assembly.

11. The system of claim 9 , wherein the first mounting assembly and the second mounting assembly are separated by an air gap.

12. The system of claim 9 , wherein the radiation shield and the second mounting assembly do not contact the linac.

13. The system of claim 9 , wherein the linac and the radiation shield are separated by an air gap.

14. The system of claim 9 , further comprising an actuator coupled to the linac and the first mounting assembly using a ball screw, and wherein a location of the linac is configured to be adjusted by the actuator.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the actuator is removable.

16. The system of claim 14 , wherein the actuator is controllable from a remote location.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the rotatable gantry is located in a room and the remote location is outside of the room.

18. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a motion system comprising a plurality of rotor elements around the rotatable ring, a stator element enclosed within the stationary frame across from the rotor elements, and ball bearings located adjacent to the plurality of rotor elements.

19. The system of claim 18 , wherein the plurality of rotor elements comprise one or more magnetic or inductive elements, and the stator element comprises a coil.

20. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a first communication interface comprising a first receiver element mounted to the rotatable ring and a first transmitter element mounted to the stationary frame that is configured to transmit a first plurality of signals to the first receiver element while the rotatable ring is moving; and
a second communication interface comprising a second transmitter element mounted to the rotatable ring and a second receiver element mounted to the stationary frame, wherein the second transmitter element is configured to transmit a second plurality of signals to the second receiver element while the rotatable ring is moving.

21. The system of claim 20 , wherein the first plurality of signals are transmitted across the first communication interface and the second plurality signals are transmitted across the second communication interface concurrently.

22. The system of claim 20 , further comprising a multi-leaf collimator disposed in front of the therapeutic radiation source, wherein the multi-leaf collimator is configured to transmit position data of individual leaves of the multi-leaf collimator to the second transmitter element for transmission to the second receiver element.

23. The system of claim 20 , wherein the second plurality of signals comprises gantry rotation speed data.

24. The system of claim 20 , wherein the second plurality of signals comprises positron emission data from the one or more PET detectors.

25. The system of claim 20 , further comprising a radiation detector mounted on the rotatable ring across from the therapeutic radiation source and wherein the second plurality of signals comprises radiation data from the radiation detector.

26. The system of claim 20 , further comprising a first controller located on the rotatable ring and a second controller on the stationary frame, wherein the second controller is in communication with the first transmitter element, wherein the first plurality of signals comprises radiation source commands from the second controller.

27. The system of claim 26 , further comprising a multi-leaf collimator disposed in front of the therapeutic radiation source, wherein the first plurality of signals comprises multi-leaf collimator commands from the second controller.

28. The system of claim 26 , wherein the first plurality of signals comprises gantry rotation commands from the second controller.

29. The system of claim 20 , wherein the first communication interface and the second communication interface transmit signals using inductive signal transfer methods.

30. The system of claim 20 , wherein the first communication interface and the second communication interface transmit signals using capacitive signal transfer methods.

31. The system of claim 20 , further comprising a first position sensor mounted to the rotatable ring and in communication with the first receiver element, and a second position sensor mounted to the stationary frame and in communication wit

Assignees

• Reflexion Medical Inc

Inventors

• Harper Brent
• Wiggers Robert
• Larkin David
• Meer David
• NETT David
• Bassalow Rostem
• Olcott Peter
• Julian Chris
• Dolan Brent
• Pearce William Jorge

Classifications

• A61N2005/1094

  Shielding, protecting against radiation · CPC title

• A61N5/1081 Primary

  Rotating beam systems with a specific mechanical construction, e.g. gantries · CPC title

• A61N2005/005

  for cooling the radiator · CPC title

• G21K1/046

  varying the contour of the field, e.g. multileaf collimators · CPC title

• A61N2005/1052

  using positron emission tomography [PET] single photon emission computer tomography [SPECT] imaging · CPC title