Imagers in radiation therapy environment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11478663-B2
Application number	US-201816054543-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 3, 2018
Priority date	Aug 3, 2018
Publication date	Oct 25, 2022
Grant date	Oct 25, 2022

Abstract

An imager includes: an array of imager elements configured to generate image signals based on radiation received by the imager; and circuit configured to perform readout of image signals, wherein the circuit is configured to be radiation hard. An imager includes: an array of imager elements configured to generate image signals based on the radiation received by the imager; and readout and control circuit coupled to the array of imager elements, wherein the readout and control circuit is configured to perform signal readout in synchronization with an operation of a treatment beam source.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An imager comprising:
an array of imager elements configured to generate image signals based on radiation received by the imager; and
a circuit configured to perform readout of the image signals, wherein the circuit is configured to be radiation hard;
wherein the imager is configured to remain fully functional even after the imager has been exposed to radiation resulting from at least 10 MV radiation beam with parameters of 100 kRad and 600 Mu/min.

2. The imager of claim 1 , wherein the circuit is configured to withstand at least 100 kRad of radiation.

3. The imager of claim 1 , wherein the circuit is configured to withstand at least 500 kRad of radiation.

4. The imager of claim 1 , wherein the circuit comprises readout and control circuit coupled to the array of imager elements, wherein the readout and control circuit is radiation hard.

5. The imager of claim 1 , wherein the circuit comprises a gate driver, and wherein the gate driver is radiation hard.

6. The imager of claim 1 , wherein the circuit of the imager comprises a commercial component that is not marketed as radiation hard, but has been tested as meeting certain radiation hardness requirement.

7. The imager of claim 1 , wherein the circuit of the imager comprise a commercial component that is marketed as radiation hard.

8. The imager of claim 1 , wherein the circuit of the imager has a component that is custom-designed to meet certain radiation hardness requirement.

9. The imager of claim 1 , further comprising a radiation shielding for protecting the imager from treatment radiation.

10. An imager comprising:
an array of imager elements configured to generate image signals for an image frame based on radiation received by the imager; and
a circuit configured to perform readout of the image signals, wherein the circuit is configured to be radiation hard;
wherein the circuit comprises a readout and control circuit coupled to the array of imager elements, wherein the readout and control circuit is configured to perform signal readout in synchronization with an operation of a treatment beam source;
wherein the readout and control circuit is configured to:
readout a first subset of the image signals for the image frame,
after the first subset of the image signals is readout, stop reading out any of the image signals to allow the treatment beam source to provide a treatment beam pulse, and
readout a second subset of the image signals for the image frame after the treatment beam source has provided the treatment beam pulse, the second subset of the image signals being different from the first subset of the image signals, and

wherein the first subset of the image signals and the second subset of the image signals are for different respective regions of the image frame.

11. The imager of claim 10 , wherein the readout and control circuit is configured to start the signal readout for the image frame at a pre-determined time or within a predetermined time period with respect to the treatment beam pulse.

12. The imager of claim 10 , wherein the treatment beam source is configured to hold off a delivery of the treatment beam pulse or multiple treatment beam pulses for a beam hold period.

13. The imager of claim 12 , wherein the beam hold period is long enough to allow the imager to reset the array of imager elements, receive imaging dose, and readout some of the image signals.

14. The imager of claim 1 , wherein the circuit comprises a layout configured to provide radiation hardness.

15. The imager of claim 14 , wherein the circuit comprises an edge-less transistor, an enclosed layout transistor (EL T), at least two transistors with guard rings between the two transistors, or any combination of the foregoing.

16. An imager comprising:
an array of imager elements configured to generate image signals based on radiation received by the imager; and
a circuit configured to perform readout of the image signals, wherein the circuit is configured to be radiation hard;
wherein the array of imager elements is configured to generate image signals based on photon counting; and
wherein the circuit is configured to readout a first subset of the image signals before a delivery of a treatment radiation beam, and to readout a second subset of the image signals after the delivery of the treatment radiation beam, and wherein the first subset of the image signals and the second subset of the image signals are for different respective regions of an image frame.

17. An imager comprising:
an array of imager elements configured to generate image signals for an image frame based on the radiation received by the imager; and
a circuit coupled to the array of imager elements, wherein the circuit is configured to perform signal readout in synchronization with an operation of a treatment beam source; wherein
the circuit is configured to:
readout a first subset of the image signals for the image frame,
after the first subset of the image signals is readout, stop reading out any of the image signals to allow the treatment beam source to provide a treatment beam pulse, and
readout a second subset of the image signals for the image frame after the treatment beam source has provided the treatment beam pulse, the second subset of the image signals being different from the first subset of the image signals, and

the first subset of the image signals and the second subset of the image signals are for different respective regions of the image frame.

18. The imager of claim 17 , wherein the circuit is configured to start the signal readout for the image frame at a pre-determined time or within a predetermined time period with respect to the treatment beam pulse.

19. The imager of claim 17 , wherein the treatment beam source is configured to hold off a delivery of the treatment beam pulse for a beam hold period.

20. The imager of claim 19 , wherein the beam hold period is long enough to allow the imager to reset the array of imager elements, receive imaging dose, and readout some of the image signals.

21. The imager of claim 17 , wherein the circuit is configured to be radiation hard.

22. The imager of claim 17 , wherein the circuit comprises readout and control circuit coupled to the array of imager elements, wherein the readout and control circuit is radiation hard.

23. The imager of claim 17 , wherein the circuit comprises a gate driver, and wherein the gate driver is radiation hard.

24. The imager of claim 17 , wherein the array of imager elements is configured to generate the image signals based on light signals provided by a scintillator layer.

25. The imager of claim 17 , wherein the array of imager elements is configured to generate the image signals based on charges provided by a conversion layer.

26. The imager of claim 17 , wherein the array of imager elements is configured to generate the image signals based on photon counting.

27. The imager of claim 17 , wherein the circuit is configured to perform signal readout in synchronization with the operation of the treatment beam source to prevent a band artifact, a dark line artifact, a bright line artifact, or any combination of the foregoing.

28. The imager of claim 1 , wherein the readout and control circuit is configured to suspend a signal-readout process when a treatment beam source is delivering a treatment beam pulse or multiple tr

Assignees

• Varian Medical Systems Int Ag

Inventors

• Morf Daniel
• Amstutz Martin

Classifications

• A61N5/1049 Primary

  for verifying the position of the patient with respect to the radiation beam · CPC title

• A61N2005/1087

  Ions; Protons · CPC title

• A61N2005/1061

  using an x-ray imaging system having a separate imaging source · CPC title

• A61B6/4258

  for detecting non x-ray radiation, e.g. gamma radiation (A61B6/037 takes precedence) · CPC title

• A61N5/1039

  using functional images, e.g. PET or MRI · CPC title