Varian Medical Systems, Inc.

Varian Medical Systems Technologies, Inc.

Intraop Medical Corporation

Varex Imaging Corporation

Vanan Medical Systems, Inc.

David H Whittum

James Edward Clayton

John R Adler

Steven W Prince

Mark Everett Trail

Gard Edson Meddaugh

Richard L Johnson, Jr

George Merdinian

Donald Allen Goer

James A Nelson

Christopher J Patane

Alexandre S Kretchetov

Stephen Mohr

Eiji Tanabe

Richard Lee Johnson

Michael A Kauffman

Wolfgang Arnold

Arthur Salop

Carsten Weil

Jr John R Adler

The present invention provides electron beam therapies with improved feedback control that delivers controlled and adjustable doses of electron beam radiation to variable shallow depths with little radiation exposure to both nearby tissues and tissues below the target. In order to control radiation to accurately penetrate to shallow depths and to allow the radiation to be adjusted to other depth settings in very small or even continuous increments, the present invention senses a plurality of different electron beam characteristics and then uses these to derive a composite characteristic, or analog, of the electron beam energy. The composite analog provides a strong correlation to energy that allows this precision. In another aspect, the present invention relates to implementing this feedback control by adjusting power levels used to establish the electron beam. In other embodiments, feedback control adjusts absorbing components with variable electron beam absorption depending on how such components are presented to the electron beam.

Low energy electron beam radiation system that generates electron beams with precisely controlled and adjustable penetration depth useful for therapeutic applications

The present invention provides improved methods and apparatus that use machine vision techniques to rapidly and automatically guide objects into desired docking configurations. The present invention is based at least in part upon using multi-depth, rotationally symmetric targets that are observed from two or more observation perspectives. By taking advantage of parallax effects associated with the multi-depth topography of the target, the apparent positions of target features in captured image information encodes position and angular alignment of the objects relative to each other in three dimensional space. The practice of the present invention provides a fast, accurate, reliable and automatic approach to achieve hard or soft docking configurations in the electron beam therapies as well as to implement real-time gating and tracking during the course of a treatment.

Machine vision alignment and positioning system for electron beam treatment systems

A radiation system includes a support, a capsule rotatably coupled to the support, a radiation source movably coupled to the capsule, wherein the radiation source is configured to provide a treatment radiation beam, and is capable of being turned on or off in response to a control signal, and a collimator located next to the radiation source, wherein the capsule defines a space for accommodating a portion of a patient, and includes a shielding material for attenuating radiation resulted from an operation of the radiation source, and wherein the shielding material is configured to limit a radiation exposure level to 5 mR/hr or less within 5 meters from an isocenter.

Radiation systems with minimal or no shielding requirement on building

Man-portable radiation generation sources and systems that may be carried by hand to a site of interest by one or two people, are disclosed. Methods of use of such sources and systems are also disclosed. Battery operated radiation generation sources, air cooled radiation generation sources, and charged particle accelerators, are also disclosed. A radiation generation source, a radiation scanning system, and a target assembly comprising target material having a thickness of less than 0.20 mm are also disclosed.

Charged particle accelerators, radiation sources, systems, and methods

A radiation system includes: a first support; a first structure rotatably coupled to the first support so that the first structure is rotatable about a first axis relative to the first support; a second structure rotatably coupled to the first structure so that the second structure is rotatable about a second axis that forms a non-zero angle relative to the first structure; and a first radiation source connected to the second structure; wherein the first structure and the second structure are parts of a capsule for accommodating at least a portion of a patient.

Compact, dual energy radiation scanning systems are described comprising two particle beam accelerators, each configured to accelerate charged particles to different energies, positioned parallel to a direction of movement of an object to be inspected. The accelerator may be positioned perpendicular to a plane of the conveying system, instead. Bend magnet systems bend each charged particle beam toward a respective target. Alternatively, a single dual energy accelerator capable of accelerating charged particles to at least two different energies is positioned parallel to the direction of movement of the object, or perpendicular to a plane of the conveying system. A single bend magnet system is provided to bend each accelerated charged particle beam toward the same target. The particle beams may be bent through an orbit chamber. Two separate passages may be defined through at least part of the orbit chamber, one for charged particles having each energy.

Compact, interleaved radiation sources

A radiation system includes a support, a capsule rotatably coupled to the support, a radiation source movably coupled to the capsule, wherein the radiation source is configured to provide a treatment radiation beam, and is capable of being turned on or off in response to a control signal, and a collimator located next to the radiation source, wherein the capsule defines a space for accommodating a portion of a patient, and includes a shielding material for attenuating radiation resulted from an operation of the radiation source, and wherein the shielding material is configured to limit a radiation exposure level to 5 mR/hr or less within 3 meters from an isocenter.

An energy switch assembly includes probe components that can undergo and survive elevated temperatures of a bake-out procedure, and drive components that have capabilities of continuous positioning a probe throughout the stroke of the probe. The drive components can be removable from the probe components and replaceable without breaking the vacuum of the accelerator guide assembly.

Energy switch assembly for linear accelerators

An apparatus for use in a process to regulate power for a particle accelerator includes a first circulator, a second circulator, a tee coupled between the first and the second circulator, and a tuner coupled to the tee. An apparatus for use in a process to regulate power for a particle accelerator includes a first circulator, a second circulator, a 3-dB coupler coupled between the first and the second circulator, and a tuner coupled to the 3-dB coupler.

Power variator

Man-portable radiation generation sources and systems that may be carried by hand to a site of interest by one or two people, are disclosed. Methods of use of such sources and systems are also disclosed. Battery operated radiation generation sources, air cooled radiation generation sources, and charged particle accelerators, are also disclosed. A radiation generation source with a target less than 0.20 mm is also disclosed.

An energy switch for use in a radiation system includes an element located within a structure having a cavity, the element capable of being biased by a magnetic field, and a device for generating the magnetic field to thereby bias the element. An energy switch for use in a radiation system includes a structure forming at least a part of a cavity, an element coupled to the structure and located outside the cavity, the element capable of being biased by a magnetic field, and a device for generating the magnetic field to bias the element. A method for use in a radiation procedure includes providing a first magnetic field, and using the first magnetic field to create a first bias for an element that is located outside a cavity of an accelerator, thereby changing en electric field associated with the accelerator.

Growing community of inventors

Sunnyvale, CA, United States of America

David H Whittum