Iris Diaphragm Collimator for Precise Radiation Shaping
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current collimators for high-energy radiation therapy fail to accurately simulate tumor shapes and minimize excessive irradiation and half shadows, leading to inefficiencies and increased treatment time due to complex mechanisms and limited variability in beam collimation.
Innovation Solution
A method and device using an iris diaphragm collimator with adjustable diaphragm leaves that can be positioned to create variable aperture openings, allowing for precise shaping of the radiation field to match the tumor shape, reducing excessive irradiation and half shadows, while maintaining a compact and lightweight design for efficient scanning.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If traditional collimators with fixed or simple movable shielding blocks are used, then the structure is simple, but the ability to simulate tumor shapes and reduce excessive irradiation is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The collimator is divided into multiple independent diaphragm leaves that can be individually positioned and adjusted. Each leaf acts as an independent segment that can be moved to specific locations to create custom aperture shapes, enabling accurate simulation of tumor contours while maintaining manageable structural complexity through modular design
Solution Approach 2:
The collimator transitions from static or simple movable blocks to dynamic diaphragm leaves that can be independently positioned and adjusted during operation. The leaves can be moved along guides to different locations and held in position, allowing real-time adaptation to different tumor shapes and sizes, significantly improving versatility without requiring a completely complex reconfigurable structure
2Manufacturing precision
If complex collimator mechanisms are used to improve beam shaping capability, then the accuracy of tumor shape simulation improves, but the treatment time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The diaphragm leaves are pre-positioned along guides at multiple possible locations before the radiation treatment begins. The precise positions are predetermined, allowing the leaves to be quickly moved to the required locations and held in place without complex real-time adjustments during treatment, thus achieving high beam shaping accuracy while minimizing treatment time
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces complex mechanical adjustment mechanisms with a guide-based positioning system where diaphragm leaves slide along predetermined paths. This substitution of complex mechanical systems with simpler guide-guided movement enables rapid positioning of leaves to achieve accurate beam collimation without the time-consuming adjustments required by more complex mechanisms
3Adaptability or versatility
If traditional collimators are used, then the device is compact, but the variability in beam collimation and reduction of half shadows is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The collimator uses multiple independent diaphragm leaves that can be individually positioned to create various aperture shapes and sizes. This segmentation allows the system to achieve high variability in beam collimation by simply repositioning individual leaves rather than requiring a completely complex reconfigurable mechanism
Solution Approach 2:
The diaphragm leaves can be positioned not only in the plane perpendicular to the beam direction but also at different depths along the beam path. This multi-dimensional positioning capability enables the creation of complex aperture shapes and the reduction of half shadows by blocking radiation from specific angles, significantly increasing beam collimation variability without proportionally increasing mechanism complexity
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to a method and device for operating collimator (1) for limiting a beam of high-energy radiation (2) which, starting from an essentially point-shaped radiation source (3), is directed onto an object (4) to be treated and which is used especially for stereotactic, conformal radiation therapy of tumors, wherein the collimator (1) has an iris diaphragm (5) as a beam-limiting means. For such a collimator (1), a high degree of shielding for minimal overall height and with a variable opening size of the diaphragm opening (12) is achieved, in that the iris diaphragm (5) has at least three diaphragm leaves (6, 6′, 6″, or 7, 7′, 7″, 7′″, or 8, 8′, 8″, 8′″, 8″″, or 9, 9′, 9″, 9′″, 9″″, 9′″″) which have touching side surfaces (10) enclosing the same angle (α), wherein the diaphragm leaves (6, 6′, 6″, or 7, 7′, 7″, 7′″, or 8, 8′, 8″, 8′″, 8″″, or 9, 9′, 9″, 9′″, 9″″, 9′″″) open up a beam-limiting opening (12) such that a sliding movement (13) along the side surfaces (10) takes place by a number of diaphragm leaves (6, 6′, 6″, or 7, 7′, 7″, 7′″, or 8, 8′, 8″, 8′″, 8″″, or 9, 9′, 9″, 9′″, 9″″, 9′″″) which is reduced by at most one.