Systems and methods for particle portal imaging

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11654302-B2
Application number	US-201917053924-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 9, 2019
Priority date	May 9, 2018
Publication date	May 23, 2023
Grant date	May 23, 2023

Abstract

A particle portal imaging (PPI) system and method are provided that can be used to provide a “beam's eye view” of a patient's anatomy as a charged particle beam is delivered to a target region of the patient's body. The PPI system is capable of performing real-time image acquisition and in-situ dose monitoring using at least exit neutrons generated within the patient. The PPI system can perform charged particle treatment (PT) monitoring to monitor the particle beam being used for PT.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A particle portal imaging (PPI) system comprising:
a charged particle beam source that generates a charged particle beam that is directed toward a target region of a body of a patient such that a spread out bragg peak (SOBP) is produced inside of the patient's body, the SOBP inside of the body producing at least exit neutrons; and
an imaging system comprising:
a radiation imager positioned to receive at least a portion of the exit neutrons and to generate one or more radiographic images from said at least a portion of the exit neutrons, the radiation imager comprising:
a converter that receives said at least a portion of the exit neutrons and converts said at least a portion of the exit neutrons into light propagating in a first direction;
a mirror that receives the light propagating in the first direction and directs at least a portion of the received light into light propagating in a second direction that is at a non-zero-degree angle to the first direction; and
an optical sensor that receives at least a portion of the light propagating in the second direction, the optical sensor comprising an array of sensor elements, each sensor element generating a respective electrical signal based on an amount of the light received thereby, each radiographic image corresponding to a combination of the electrical signals generated by the sensor elements at a given time instant; and

a processor in communication with the radiation imager to receive said one or more radiographic images, the processor being configured to perform one or more image processing algorithms that process said one or more radiographic images to obtain information about the patient.

2. The PPI system of claim 1 , wherein the radiation imager is configured to perform a preferential selection process that selects the exit neutrons that are used to generate said one or more radiographic images based at least in part on energy levels of the exit neutrons.

3. The PPI system of claim 1 , wherein the converter is a scintillator.

4. The PPI system of claim 1 , wherein the mirror is a forty-five-degree mirror, and wherein the second direction is at a forty-five-degree angle to the first direction.

5. The PPI system of claim 1 , wherein the optical sensor is a charge coupled device (CCD) sensor.

6. The PPI system of claim 1 , wherein the optical sensor is a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) sensor.

7. The PPI system of claim 1 , wherein the radiation imager comprises:
a detector that receives said at least a portion of the exit neutrons and converts said at least a portion of the exit neutrons into said one or more radiographic images.

8. The PPI system of claim 1 , wherein the charged beam source is a proton beam source that generates a proton beam.

9. The PPI system of claim 1 , wherein the radiation imager generates a series of radiographic images, each radiographic image of the series being captured at a different instant in time during the PT session, and wherein at least one of the image processing algorithms performed by the processor analyzes the radiographic images of the series to identify at least one particular feature that is present in each radiographic image of the series and to determine whether a position of the particular feature has changed over the different instants of time.

10. The PPI system of claim 1 , wherein at least one image processing algorithm performed by the processor analyzes said one or more radiographic images to verify a geometry of the charged particle beam at the target region during a charged particle treatment (PT) session.

11. The PPI system of claim 1 , wherein at least one image processing algorithm performed by the processor analyzes said one or more radiographic images to determine a radiation dose of the charged particle beam delivered to the target region during a charged particle treatment (PT) session.

12. The PPI system of claim 1 , wherein at least one image processing algorithm performed by the processor analyzes said one or more radiographic images to determine a radiation dose of the charged particle beam delivered to areas adjacent to the target region during a charged particle treatment (PT) session.

13. The PPI system of claim 1 , wherein the radiation imager is moved relative to the patient during the PT session to change an angle of the radiation imager relative to the charged particle beam, and wherein a plurality of two-dimensional (2-D) radiographic images are captured by the radiation imager at different respective angles of the radiation imager relative to the charged particle beam, and wherein at least one image processing algorithm performed by the processor is a reconstruction algorithm that generates one or more three-dimensional (3-D) radiographic images from the 2-D radiographic images.

14. The PPI system of claim 1 , wherein the charged particle beam comprises a pencil beam that is scanned through layers of the body of the patient during the PT session such that at least one two-dimensional (2-D) radiographic image is generated by the radiation imager per scanned layer, and wherein one image processing algorithm performed by the processor combines the 2-D radiographs for all of the scanned layers and uses a proton beam energy associated with each scanned layer to generate a three-dimensional (3-D) radiographic image of the target region.

15. The PPI system of claim 14 , wherein one image processing algorithm performed by the processor determines, based on the 3-D radiographic image, whether or not actual delivery of the charged particle beam to the target region met constraints of a treatment plan for an intended delivery of the charged particle beam to the target region.

16. The PPI system of claim 15 , wherein one image processing algorithm performed by the processor determines, based on the 3-D radiographic image, whether a radiation dose delivered by the charged particle beam to the target region met constraints of a treatment plan for an intended radiation dose to be delivered during a charged particle treatment (PT) session.

17. The PPI system of claim 16 , wherein one image processing algorithm performed by the processor modifies, based on the 3-D radiographic image, a treatment plan associated with the patient.

18. A method for performing particle portal imaging (PPI) comprising:
with a charged particle beam source of a PPI system, generating a charged particle beam and directing the charged particle beam toward a target region of a body of a patient such that a spread out bragg peak (SOBP) is produced inside of the patient's body, the SOBP inside of the body producing at least exit neutrons;
with a radiation imager of an imaging system of the PPI system, receiving at least a portion of the exit neutrons and generating one or more radiographic images from said at least a portion of the exit neutrons; and
with a processor of the imaging system, receiving said one or more radiographic images and performing one or more image processing algorithms that process said one or more radiographic images to obtain information about the patient;
wherein the radiation imager comprises:
a converter that receives said at least a portion of the exit neutrons and converts said at least a portion of the exit neutrons into light propagating in a first direction;
a mirror that receives the light propagating in the first direction and directs at least a portion of the received light into light propagating in a second direction that is at a non-zero-degree angle to the first direction; and
an optical sensor that

Assignees

• Univ Florida
• Univ Florida

Inventors

• Samant Sanjiv Singh
• Nimmagadda Jyothier
• Baciak James Edward
• Samant Thomas S S
• Enqvist Andreas Jon

Classifications

• A61N5/1071

  for verifying the dose delivered by the treatment plan · CPC title

• A61N2005/1054

  using a portal imaging system · CPC title

• A61N2005/1087

  Ions; Protons · CPC title

• A61N5/1049 Primary

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