A high gradient particle accelerator and cancer treatment device

Abstract

The application discloses a high-gradient particle accelerator and a cancer treatment device, which comprises an ion source for generating and leading out a particle beam for treatment; a superconducting radio frequency quadrupole field accelerator, the inlet of which is connected with the ion source through a low-energy transmission line, and is used for pre-accelerating the particle beam generated by the ion source to obtain a low-energy particle beam; a superconducting linear acceleration section, the inlet of which is connected with the outlet of the superconducting radio frequency quadrupole field accelerator through a first beam transport line, and is used for re-accelerating the low-energy particle beam led out by the superconducting radio frequency quadrupole field accelerator to obtain a medium-energy particle beam; and a ring accelerator, the inlet of which is connected with the outlet of the superconducting linear acceleration section through a second beam transport line, and is used for finally accelerating the medium-energy particle beam led out by the superconducting linear acceleration section to obtain a high-energy particle beam flow with a target energy. The application adopts the scheme of combining the superconducting linear accelerator with the ring accelerator to realize the acceleration of the particle beam flow to the target energy for cancer treatment.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of medical accelerators, and more particularly to a high-gradient particle accelerator and a cancer treatment device. Background Art

[0002] According to data released by the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), approximately 20 million new cancer cases and 10 million deaths were reported worldwide in 2020. my country led the world in new cancer cases and deaths, reaching 4.57 million and 3 million, respectively. my country also leads the world in both the number of cancer patients and deaths. Cancer has become a serious threat to people's lives and health, primarily due to the lack of effective, targeted treatments.

[0003] Currently, there are three main treatment methods for different tumor conditions internationally: surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy. Surgery is one of the earliest and most commonly used cancer treatments. It aims to cure or control cancer by removing the tumor and surrounding affected tissue. Its advantage is that it can directly remove the tumor and quickly relieve symptoms. However, surgery has a long recovery period, may cause multiple complications, and cannot completely remove cancer cells that have already spread, so there is a possibility of recurrence. Chemotherapy can treat cancer that has spread throughout the body and is generally more effective than surgery, but it has significant side effects and may cause damage to normal cells. Radiotherapy uses radiation to kill cancer cells or shrink tumors. It has the advantages of high precision and few side effects, and has shown significant advantages in cancer treatment. Particle therapy based on high-energy particle beams is currently one of the most advanced radiotherapy technologies for treating cancer.

[0004] The main devices currently used for cancer treatment include proton therapy and heavy ion therapy. The main technical route for proton therapy is a cyclotron or linear injector combined with a synchrotron; the technical route for heavy ion therapy includes cyclotron injection combined with a circular accelerator or a linear injector combined with a synchrotron. However, accelerator devices based on charged particles all have two common problems: first, high-frequency power consumption is large. Under normal circumstances, the power obtained by the particles is only one-quarter of the total power, and the remaining three-quarters is high-frequency power consumption, resulting in a large amount of power waste; second, energy regulation is difficult. Tumor treatment requires certain targeting and selectivity, and there are limitations in the treatment of tumors of different types and depths. This invisibly increases the cost of cancer treatment devices and limits the effectiveness of their market promotion. Summary of the Invention

[0005] The present invention aims to address at least one of the technical problems existing in the prior art. To this end, the present invention provides a high-gradient particle accelerator and cancer treatment device, which utilizes a superconducting linear accelerator combined with a circular accelerator to accelerate a particle beam to a target energy sufficient for cancer treatment.

[0006] To achieve the above object, the present invention adopts the following technical solutions:

[0007] In a first aspect, the present invention provides a high-gradient particle accelerator, comprising: an ion source for generating and extracting a therapeutic particle beam; a superconducting radio frequency quadrupole accelerator, the inlet of the superconducting radio frequency quadrupole accelerator being connected to the ion source via a low-energy transmission line, for pre-accelerating the particle beam generated by the ion source to obtain a low-energy particle beam; a superconducting linear acceleration section, the inlet of the superconducting linear acceleration section being connected to the outlet of the superconducting radio frequency quadrupole accelerator via a first beam transport line, for re-accelerating the low-energy particle beam extracted from the superconducting radio frequency quadrupole accelerator to obtain a medium-energy particle beam; and a circular accelerator, the inlet of the circular accelerator being connected to the outlet of the superconducting linear acceleration section via a second beam transport line, for ultimately accelerating the medium-energy particle beam extracted from the superconducting linear acceleration section to obtain a high-energy particle beam of target energy.

[0008] Preferably, the low-energy transmission line includes several solenoids, a secondary magnet, and a chopper; the solenoid is used to generate a magnetic field to control and focus the beam so that the beam remains on the low-energy transmission line; the secondary magnet is used to analyze the impurity particle beam, and the secondary magnet optimizes the edge angle to achieve symmetrical transmission of the beam; the chopper is a beam transverse chopper with a rising edge of no more than 20ns.

[0009] Preferably, the frequency of the superconducting radio frequency quadrupole accelerator is selected to be 125-200 MHz, the cavity voltage is selected to be 50-70 kV, the spark coefficient is selected to be between 1 and 1.6, and the outlet energy is designed to be 1.5-3 MeV / u.

[0010] Preferably, the first beam transport line is composed of several quadrupole lenses and bunchers, which are used to match the low-energy particle beam drawn out by the superconducting radio frequency quadrupole field accelerator to the downstream superconducting linear acceleration section, thereby achieving high-efficiency transmission of the beam.

[0011] Preferably, the superconducting linear acceleration section includes a cryostat, an interdigital superconducting cavity, a coupler, and a tuner. The interdigital superconducting cavity is arranged inside the cryostat, and the cryostat is used to provide a low-temperature, non-magnetic, vacuum environment for the interdigital superconducting cavity. The interdigital superconducting cavity includes n-stage drift tubes arranged at intervals, the inlet of the first-stage drift tube is connected to the first beam transport line, and the outlet of the n-stage drift tube is connected to the second beam transport line. The coupler is connected to the coupling port of the interdigital superconducting cavity and is used to feed radio frequency power to the interdigital superconducting cavity. The tuner is connected to the helium tank of the interdigital superconducting cavity through a flexible hinge, and is used to apply a mechanical force to the interdigital superconducting cavity through a scissor-fork conversion mechanism to adjust the frequency of the interdigital superconducting cavity.

[0012] As a preference: the cross-digital superconducting cavity adopts a multi-cell variable period structure, that is, the length and acceleration gap of the drift tube at each stage are variable. i The length of the drift tube 91 is ,in For the i The beam velocity at the exit of the drift tube is is the high frequency cycle time of the cavity, i =1,2,… n .

[0013] Preferably, the material of the interdigital superconducting cavity is Nb3Sn, MgB2 or NbN.

[0014] Preferably, the second beam transport line is mainly composed of a deflection magnet and several quadrupole lenses, wherein the deflection magnet is used to deflect the medium-energy particle beam to the downstream circular accelerator, and the quadrupole lenses meet the beam matching from the linear accelerator to the circular accelerator, thereby realizing high-efficiency transmission of the beam.

[0015] Preferably, the ring accelerator is a cyclotron, a synchrotron or a FFAG alternating gradient accelerator.

[0016] In a second aspect, the present invention provides a cancer treatment device comprising the high gradient particle accelerator as described in the first aspect of the present invention and at least one treatment terminal, wherein the at least one treatment terminal is connected to the outlet of the circular accelerator.

[0017] The present invention has the following advantages due to the adoption of the above technical solution:

[0018] 1. This invention proposes a high-gradient particle accelerator based on a combination of a superconducting linear injector and a circular accelerator. This accelerator utilizes a multi-cell, variable-period CH superconducting cavity, leveraging its high energy storage capabilities. In short-pulse operation, the CH superconducting cavity can operate stably within a voltage range of 1 to 2 times the design voltage, enabling injector-extracted beam energies of 4 to 7 MeV / u within a 1-meter radius. This significantly improves acceleration efficiency, shortens the overall linear injector length, reduces the accelerator footprint, and reduces accelerator construction costs.

[0019] 2. The injector acceleration structure of the present invention utilizes a superconducting RFQ accelerator and a multi-cell, variable-period CH superconducting cavity to achieve highly efficient particle acceleration. High-frequency power consumption is only tens of watts, and a single power source of hundreds of watts is sufficient for injector operation. Compared to room-temperature RFQ accelerators, this high-frequency power consumption is reduced by two orders of magnitude, significantly reducing both the construction and operating costs of the accelerator. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0020] Various other advantages and benefits will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading the detailed description of the preferred embodiment below. The accompanying drawings are for illustration purposes only and are not to be considered as limiting the present invention. Throughout the drawings, the same reference numerals are used to denote the same components. In the drawings:

[0021] Figure 1 A schematic structural diagram of a high-gradient particle accelerator provided in Example 1 of the present invention;

[0022] Figure 2 This is a schematic structural diagram of a superconducting linear acceleration section provided in Example 1 of the present invention;

[0023] The marks in the figure are as follows:

[0024] 1- ion source; 2- low-energy transmission line; 3- superconducting RFQ accelerator; 4- first beam transport line; 5- superconducting linear acceleration section; 6- second beam transport line; 7- circular accelerator; 8- cryostat; 9- CH superconducting cavity; 10- coupler; 11- tuner; 91- drift tube. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0025] To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of the present invention more apparent, specific embodiments of the present invention are further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Although exemplary embodiments of the present invention are shown in the accompanying drawings, it should be understood that the present invention can be implemented in various forms and should not be limited by the embodiments described herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided to enable a more thorough understanding of the present invention and to fully convey the scope of the present invention to those skilled in the art.

[0026] In the description of the present invention, it should be understood that the terms "center", "longitudinal", "lateral", "length", "width", "thickness", "up", "down", "front", "back", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inside", "outside", "clockwise", "counterclockwise", "axial", "radial", "circumferential" and the like to indicate orientations or positional relationships based on the orientations or positional relationships shown in the accompanying drawings, and are only for the convenience of describing the present invention and simplifying the description, rather than indicating or implying that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore should not be understood as limiting the present invention.

[0027] Furthermore, the terms "first" and "second" are used for descriptive purposes only and should not be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly specifying the number of the technical features being referred to. Thus, a feature identified as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of the features. In the description of the present invention, "plurality" means more than two, unless otherwise specifically defined.

[0028] In the present invention, unless otherwise expressly specified or limited, the terms "mounted," "connected," "connect," "fixed," etc. should be understood broadly. For example, they may refer to fixed connection, detachable connection, or integration; mechanical connection or electrical connection; direct connection or indirect connection through an intermediate medium; internal communication between two components or interaction between two components. Those skilled in the art will understand the specific meanings of the above terms in the present invention based on specific circumstances.

[0029] In the present invention, unless otherwise expressly specified or limited, when a first feature is "above" or "below" a second feature, it may mean that the first and second features are in direct contact, or that the first and second features are in indirect contact through an intermediary. Furthermore, when a first feature is "above," "above," or "above" a second feature, it may mean that the first feature is directly above or diagonally above the second feature, or simply means that the first feature is at a higher level than the second feature. When a first feature is "below," "below," or "below" a second feature, it may mean that the first feature is directly below or diagonally below the second feature, or simply means that the first feature is at a lower level than the second feature.

[0030] In the description of this specification, the reference terms "one embodiment," "some embodiments," "example," "specific example," or "some examples" mean that the specific features, structures, materials, or characteristics described in conjunction with the embodiment or example are included in at least one embodiment or example of the present invention. In this specification, the schematic representations of the above terms do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment or example. Moreover, the specific features, structures, materials, or characteristics described can be combined in any one or more embodiments or examples in a suitable manner. In addition, those skilled in the art can combine and combine different embodiments or examples described in this specification and features of different embodiments or examples without contradiction.

[0031] In accelerator-based cancer treatment devices, the accelerator's primary function is to provide ions of a specific energy and flux to the treatment endpoint. Existing cancer treatment devices often utilize a combination of a room-temperature linear accelerator and a cyclotron or synchrotron. While room-temperature linear injectors can accelerate beams starting from relatively low energies, their high-frequency power consumption is significant, accounting for nearly three-quarters of the accelerator's operating power, typically in the order of a few kilowatts or even tens of kilowatts, resulting in high operating costs. To address this issue, the present invention provides a high-gradient particle accelerator and cancer treatment device.

[0032] The high gradient particle accelerator and cancer treatment device provided by the embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0033] Example 1:

[0034] See also Figure 1 This embodiment provides a high-gradient particle accelerator, comprising:

[0035] An ion source 1, used to generate and extract a particle beam (such as a proton beam or a heavy ion beam) for treatment. In particular, the particle beam has a beam intensity of not less than 10 mA and an energy of 30-50 keV;

[0036] a superconducting RFQ (Radio Frequency Quadrupole Accelerator) accelerator 3, the inlet of which is connected to the ion source 1 via a low-energy transmission line 2, and is used to pre-accelerate the particle beam generated by the ion source 1 to obtain a low-energy particle beam;

[0037] a superconducting linear acceleration section 5, the entrance of which is connected to the outlet of the superconducting RFQ accelerator 3 via a first beam transport line 4, and is used to re-accelerate the low-energy particle beam drawn out of the superconducting RFQ accelerator 3 to obtain a medium-energy particle beam;

[0038] The entrance of the ring accelerator 7 is connected to the exit of the superconducting linear acceleration section 5 through the second beam transport line 6, and is used to ultimately accelerate the medium-energy particle beam drawn out of the superconducting linear acceleration section 5 to obtain a high-energy particle beam with target energy.

[0039] In the above embodiment, preferably, the low-energy transmission line 2 includes several solenoids, a secondary magnet, and a chopper. The solenoid, also known as a spiral coil, is used to generate a magnetic field. When it generates a magnetic field, it can control and focus the beam so that the beam remains on the low-energy transmission line 2. The secondary magnet is used to analyze the impurity particle beam, and the secondary magnet optimizes the edge angle to achieve symmetrical transmission of the beam. The chopper is a beam transverse chopper with a rising edge of no more than 20ns, which can cut off the "tail" ions before and after the beam to reduce beam losses in the downstream accelerator.

[0040] In the above embodiment, preferably, the frequency of the superconducting RFQ accelerator 3 is selected to be 125-200 MHz, the cavity voltage is selected to be 50-70 kV, the spark coefficient is selected to be between 1 and 1.6, and the outlet energy is designed to be 1.5-3 MeV / u.

[0041] In the above embodiment, preferably, the first beam transport line 4 is mainly composed of several quadrupole lenses and bunchers. The function of the quadrupole lenses and bunchers is to meet the matching of the low-energy particle beam drawn out by the superconducting RFQ accelerator 3 to the downstream superconducting linear acceleration section 5, thereby realizing high-efficiency transmission of the beam.

[0042] In the above embodiment, preferably, please refer to Figure 2 The superconducting linear acceleration section 5 includes a cryostat 8, an interdigital (CH) superconducting cavity 9, a coupler 10, and a tuner 11. The CH superconducting cavity 9 is located within the cryostat 8 and is used to provide a low-temperature, non-magnetic, vacuum environment for the CH superconducting cavity 9. The CH superconducting cavity 9 includes n-stage drift tubes 91 spaced apart within the cryostat 8. The inlet of the first-stage drift tube 91 is connected to the first beam transport line 4, and the outlet of the n-stage drift tube 91 is connected to the second beam transport line 6. The coupler 10 is connected to the coupling port of the CH superconducting cavity 9 and is used to feed radio frequency power into the CH superconducting cavity 9. The tuner 11 is connected to the helium tank of the CH superconducting cavity 9 via a flexible hinge. The tuner 11 is used to apply mechanical force to the CH superconducting cavity 9 via a scissor-type switching mechanism to adjust the frequency of the CH superconducting cavity 9.

[0043] In the above embodiment, preferably, please continue to refer to Figure 2 , CH superconducting cavity 9 adopts a multi-cell variable period structure, The length of the drift tube 91 and the acceleration gap are variable. i The length of the drift tube 91 is ,in The beam velocity at the outlet of the first-stage drift tube 91 is i The beam velocity at the outlet of the first-stage drift tube 91 is The beam velocity at the outlet of the first-stage drift tube 91 is i =1,2,… n The multi-cell variable-period structure The beam velocity at the outlet of the first-stage drift tube 91 is

[0044] In the above embodiment, preferably, the CH superconducting cavity 9 adopts a low-temperature superconducting material (for example, Nb3Sn, MgB2, or NbN, etc.).

[0045] In the above embodiment, preferably, the CH superconducting cavity 9 adopts a conduction cooling technology to maintain the cavity in a superconducting state, that is, the generated heat is transferred to the cooling medium through the heat conduction characteristics of the substance, and the heat is taken away by the cooling medium, so as to maintain the low-temperature working state of the system as a whole.

[0046] In the above embodiment, preferably, the second beam transport line 6 mainly consists of a deflection magnet and several quadrupole lenses, wherein the deflection magnet is used to deflect the medium-energy particle beam to the downstream synchrotron 7, and the quadrupole lenses satisfy the beam matching from the linear accelerator to the synchrotron 7, so as to realize the high-efficiency transmission of the beam.

[0047] In the above embodiment, preferably, the synchrotron 7 can be a cyclotron, a synchrotron, or an FFAG alternating gradient accelerator.

[0048] Embodiment 2:

[0049] Based on the high-gradient particle accelerator provided in Embodiment 1, the application further provides a cancer treatment device, which comprises the high-gradient particle accelerator in Embodiment 1 and at least one treatment terminal, and the at least one treatment terminal is connected to the outlet of the synchrotron 7.

[0050] It should be noted that the implementation mode of the above high-gradient particle accelerator embodiment is also applicable to the embodiment of the cancer treatment device, and can achieve the same technical effects, which will not be described here again.

[0051] Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present application, rather than to limit them. Although the present application has been described in detail with reference to the aforementioned embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that they can still modify the technical solutions described in the aforementioned embodiments, or make equivalent replacements for some or all of the technical features therein. These modifications or replacements do not deviate the essence of the corresponding technical solutions from the scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, and they should all be included in the scope of the claims and specification of the present application. In particular, as long as there is no structural conflict, the various technical features mentioned in the various embodiments can be combined in any way. The present application is not limited to the specific embodiments disclosed herein, but includes all technical solutions that fall within the scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A high gradient particle accelerator, characterized in that: include: Ion source, used to generate and extract therapeutic particle beam; a superconducting radio frequency quadrupole accelerator, the inlet of which is connected to the ion source via a low-energy transmission line, and is used to pre-accelerate the particle beam generated by the ion source to obtain a low-energy particle beam; a superconducting linear acceleration section, the entrance of which is connected to the outlet of the superconducting radio frequency quadrupole accelerator via a first beam transport line, and is used to re-accelerate the low-energy particle beam drawn out by the superconducting radio frequency quadrupole accelerator to obtain a medium-energy particle beam; a ring accelerator, the inlet of which is connected to the outlet of the superconducting linear acceleration section via a second beam transport line, and is used to ultimately accelerate the intermediate energy particle beam drawn from the superconducting linear acceleration section to obtain a high energy particle beam of target energy; The superconducting linear acceleration section includes a cryostat, an interdigital superconducting cavity, a coupler, and a tuner. The interdigital superconducting cavity is arranged inside the cryostat. The cryostat is used to provide a low-temperature, non-magnetic, vacuum environment for the interdigital superconducting cavity. The interdigital superconducting cavity includes n-stage drift tubes arranged at intervals. The inlet of the first-stage drift tube is connected to the first beam transport line, and the outlet of the n-stage drift tube is connected to the second beam transport line. The coupler is connected to the coupling port of the interdigital superconducting cavity and is used to feed radio frequency power to the interdigital superconducting cavity. The tuner is connected to the helium tank of the interdigital superconducting cavity through a flexible hinge. The tuner is used to apply a mechanical force to the interdigital superconducting cavity through a scissor conversion mechanism to adjust the frequency of the interdigital superconducting cavity. The cross-digital superconducting cavity adopts a multi-cell variable period structure, that is, the length and acceleration gap of the drift tube in each stage are variable. i The length of the drift tube is ,in For the i The beam velocity at the exit of the drift tube is is the high frequency cycle time of the cavity, i =1,2,… n .

2. The high gradient particle accelerator according to claim 1, characterized in that The low-energy transmission line includes several solenoids, a secondary magnet and a chopper; the solenoid is used to generate a magnetic field to control and focus the beam so that the beam remains on the low-energy transmission line; the secondary magnet is used to analyze the impurity particle beam, and the secondary magnet optimizes the edge angle to achieve symmetrical transmission of the beam; the chopper is a beam transverse chopper with a rising edge of no more than 20ns.

3. The high gradient particle accelerator according to claim 1, characterized in that The frequency of the superconducting radio frequency quadrupole accelerator is selected to be 125-200 MHz, the cavity voltage is selected to be 50-70 kV, the spark coefficient is selected to be between 1 and 1.6, and the outlet energy is designed to be 1.5-3 MeV / u.

4. The high gradient particle accelerator according to claim 1, characterized in that The first beam transport line is composed of several quadrupole lenses and bunchers, which are used to match the low-energy particle beam drawn out by the superconducting radio frequency quadrupole field accelerator to the downstream superconducting linear acceleration section, thereby achieving high-efficiency transmission of the beam.

5. The high gradient particle accelerator according to claim 1, characterized in that The material of the interdigital superconducting cavity is Nb3Sn, MgB2 or NbN.

6. The high gradient particle accelerator according to claim 1, characterized in that The second beam transport line is mainly composed of a deflection magnet and several quadrupole lenses, wherein the deflection magnet is used to deflect the medium-energy particle beam to the downstream circular accelerator, and the quadrupole lens satisfies the beam matching from the linear accelerator to the circular accelerator, thereby realizing high-efficiency transmission of the beam.

7. The high gradient particle accelerator according to claim 1, characterized in that The ring accelerator is a cyclotron, a synchrotron or a FFAG alternating gradient accelerator.

8. A cancer treatment device, characterized in that: The method comprises the high gradient particle accelerator according to any one of claims 1 to 7 and at least one treatment terminal, wherein the at least one treatment terminal is connected to the outlet of the circular accelerator.

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