A gantry for particle therapy as an arm rotating in the longitudinal plane

Abstract

The present invention discloses a system (2, 2') for particle beam therapy, comprising as seen in the flow direction of the particle beam (4): a) an adjustable gantry (10, 10') for the beam delivery to a target volume, said gantry comprising: a1) a beam coupling section (6) for the incoming particle beam (4); said incoming particle beam (4) being oriented substantially horizontally thereby defining a horizontal plane; a2) a first beam bending section (8, 8') comprising a number of beam deflection and/or focusing magnets (12, 14) wherein the first bending section (8, 8') either bends the particle beam (4) with an adjustable angle into the vertical plane, or with 90 degrees in the horizontal plane, but with the mechanical possibility to rotate with an adjustable angle along the axis of the incoming particle beam (4); a3) a beam transport section (16) receiving the particle beam (4) leaving the first beam bending section (8, 8') and guiding the particle beam (4) to a second beam bending section (18); a4) the second beam bending section (18) comprising a number of beam deflection magnets and/or beam focusing magnets; a5) a beam nozzle (20) comprising a window for the exit of the particle beam (4); and b) a patient table/chair (22) being rotatable in the horizontal plane or in a plane being parallel to the horizontal plane and optionally being adjustable vertically, wherein: c) thegantry (10, 10') is supported by a tilting mechanism (24) allowing the gantry (10, 10') to be tilted vertically by an angle [Phi]1 , [Phi]1 belongs to [-90 degrees; +90 degrees], wherein the gantry (10, 10') comprises a pivot (7, 7') being disposed in the region of the first bending section (8, 8'); and d) a rotation mechanism (26) being disposed in a way that the second beam bending section (18)and the beam nozzle (20) being rotatable by an angle [Phi]2 , [Phi]2 belongs to [-180 degrees; +180 degrees] around a direction given by the angle [phi] 1 .

Description

technical field [0001] The invention relates to a rack for particles. Background technique [0002] A gantry is commonly used in proton therapy and ion therapy to direct the incident beam at an optimal angle to a target (usually a tumor) in a patient. A gantry is a beam delivery system (usually including magnets) mounted on a mechanical structure that is able to surround a patient positioned at a treatment position - usually lying but in some cases also seated on a dedicated treatment couch / Chair - swivel. Typically, the angle of rotation of the gantry is slightly greater than 360 degrees, but slightly greater than 180 degrees are also used in some gantry to save space and allow access to the treatment couch / chair at any time during treatment. An example of a typical rotatable gantry used for proton therapy is disclosed in European Patent Application 15194 795.9 and in International Patent Application WO 2013 / 149945 Al. [0003] For various gantry orientations, the rotat...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

However, these racks in the form of C-arms require considerable space to allow rotation involving systems weighing 10 tons

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