Surgery – Diagnostic testing – Detecting nuclear – electromagnetic – or ultrasonic radiation
Reexamination Certificate
1998-07-01
2001-06-05
Lateef, Marvin M. (Department: 3737)
Surgery
Diagnostic testing
Detecting nuclear, electromagnetic, or ultrasonic radiation
C600S001000, C600S002000, C600S003000, C378S064000, C378S065000, C378S138000, C378S162000, C378S168000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06241670
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a radiotherapy system for irradiating a lesion of a human subject with a radiation so as to treat the lesion of the subject.
2. Discussion of the Background
Conventionally, the mainstream of the radiotherapy is toward the so-called a treatment through an external irradiation, that is, treating an internal tumor grown in a human subject with a radiation of an external source. However, this treatment has a fear of adversely affecting any healthy region of the subject. Therefore, the radiotherapy was used as an adjunct way of use, such as treating those remnant, not entirely removed, tumor cells by being exposed to a radiation dose of an external source after the surgical opening of the human body, removal of malignant tumors and the suture of the body parts or radiating the radiation dose directly to the remnant tumor cells before the suture of the body parts involved.
However, a recently developed photon radio-surgery system (PRS) is based on a concept of exposing a region of interest (ROI) in the body of the subject to a radiation dose in a controllable fashion while minimizing an adverse effect on the surrounding healthy region. The PRS comprises a PRS probe
1
and control box
3
as shown in FIG.
1
. The PRS probe
1
is comprised of an integral unit of a unique X-ray tube
5
and high voltage power source
7
. The unique X-ray tube
5
comprises an electron gun
9
, electron accelerator
11
, deflection coil
13
and a hollow PRS needle
15
. Those electrons generated at the electron gun
9
are accelerated to a required every level, properly deflected, passed through the needle
15
in vacuum and finally strike against a film-like target
17
attached to the inside of the tip of the needle
15
, that is, an Au target where an X-ray is emitted.
According to the PRS, it is possible to insert the needle
15
from a skin surface side and to emit a radiation at the inside of the target toward a cavity or space created by the evulsion of malignant tumors tumors in the internal organ or tumors in the brain. Therefore, the irradiation of a healthy region with the radiation can be restricted to the surrounding region of the tumor. In addition, any surgical opening can be eliminated or minimized.
For the treatment using the PRS, the most difficult and attentive care problem is a task of, while uniformly irradiating the tumors with a radiation dose, minimizing the irradiation of the surrounding normal (healthy) region with the radiation. Conventionally, the treatment has been progressed in accordance with planning, such as irradiation position and irradiation time, which are determined under a close treatment planning. And it has not been possible to accurately monitor how a radiation dose distribution may be sequentially developed during irradiation.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is accordingly the object of the present invention to provide a radio-therapy system which can monitor how a radiation dose distribution is developed with a passage of time during irradiation of a lesion of a human subject with a radiation.
According to the present invention, the actual position of a microradiation source and dose of a radiation actually generated from the microradiation source are measured at each predetermined time during a therapeutic treatment. An accumulative radiation dose distribution is constantly generated, in realtime, during the treatment on the basis of the actually measured position, actually measured radiation dose and reference radiation dose distribution or on the basis of a radiation dose distribution in a predetermined time calculated from the actually measured position and actually measured radiation dose. Therefore, the operator can monitor, in realtime, how the radiation dose distribution is developed, during the treatment, with a passage of time. It is, therefore, possible to, while irradiating a “diseased” region with a requisite radiation dose, suppress an unrequired irradiation of a surrounding region to an extremely low level, and hence to achieve therapeutic treatment with high precision.
According to the present invention, the actual position of the microradiation source and dose of a radiation actually generated from the source are measured at each predetermined time during a therapeutic treatment and sequentially stored. Since the position and radiation dose are so stored, it is possible to generate an accumulative radiation dose distribution at each predetermined time.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out hereinafter.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5227969 (1993-07-01), Waggener et al.
patent: 5704890 (1998-01-01), Bliss et al.
patent: 5748699 (1998-05-01), Smith
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
Lateef Marvin M.
Lin Jeoyuh
Oblon & Spivak, McClelland, Maier & Neustadt P.C.
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