University of Lincoln

Nigel Allinson

Phil Evans

Gavin Poludniowski

Gianluigi Casse

Tony Price

Phil Allport

Spyros Manolopoulos

Stuart Green

Chris Waltham

Grainne Riley

Jaime Nieto-Camero

Michela Esposito

Jon Taylor

Marcus Verhoeven

Some embodiments of the present invention provide apparatus having a particle beamline for passage of charged particles of radiation therealong, comprising: a first beam tracker structure comprising at least one position sensitive detector (PSD) for determining a location with respect to a cross-sectional area of the beam line at which particles pass through the PSD; energy discrimination apparatus for determining an energy of particles that have passed through the first beam tracker structure; and support means for supporting a subject in a path of a particle along the beamline between the first beam tracker structure and the energy discrimination apparatus, the apparatus being configured to be operated in a selected one of a first mode and a second mode, the apparatus being configured, in the first mode of operation, to control an energy of the beam of charged particles passing through the first beam tracker structure such that a Bragg peak of charged particle absorption is located within the subject, and in the second mode of operation, to control an energy of the beam of charged particles passing through the first beam tracker structure such that a Bragg peak of charged particle absorption is located within the energy discrimination apparatus.

Assembly, apparatus, system and method

A method of reconstructing a 3-dimensional image in a proton transmission computerized tomography (CT) apparatus is disclosed. The method comprises the creation of a reconstruction matrix. The matrix is created by directing a plurality of particles to traverse the object; and for each particle, measuring the trajectory and energy of each particle before and after it has traversed the object; for each particle, calculating the water-equivalent path length within the object; and for each particle, calculating the positions at which it entered and exited the object; and adding the water-equivalent path length, entry and exit positions to the reconstruction matrix. This procedure is repeated from a plurality of angular positions surrounding an object to be imaged. Then, a spatially varying 2-dimensional filter function is applied to the reconstruction matrix. Subsequently, a correction factor is applied to the filtered reconstruction matrix to at least partially correct for the finite extent of the matrix.

Method and apparatus for proton computerised tomography

Some embodiments of the present invention provide a 2D position-sensitive detector assembly comprising at least three substantially planar detector portions arranged in overlapping relationship as viewed normal to a plane of the detector portions, each detector portion comprising an array of substantially parallel, linear detector elements, the detector elements of respective detector portions being mutually non-parallel, the detector elements each being configured to generate one or more electrical signals in response to interaction of a particle of radiation therewith.

Some embodiments of the present invention provide apparatus for detecting particles of radiation comprising: a plurality of solid state semiconductor detector devices provided at spaced apart locations along a beam axis, the detector devices each being configured to generate an electrical signal indicative of passage of a particle through or absorption of a particle by the device; and at least one absorber portion configured to absorb at least a portion of an energy of a particle, wherein one said at least one absorber portion is provided in a particle path between at least one pair of adjacent detector devices, the apparatus being configured to provide an output signal indicative of the energy of a particle, the output signal provided being dependent on the electrical signals indicative of passage of a particle through or absorption of a particle by the devices.

Computerized tomography systems and methods

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Lincoln, United Kingdom

Nigel Allinson