Irradiation apparatus

Details Irradiation apparatus Irradiation apparatus

1998-03-26

2000-10-24

Berman, Jack

Radiant energy

Radiant energy generation and sources

With container for radioactive source and radiation...

2504981, G21K 510, A61N 510

Patent

active

061371149

DESCRIPTION:

BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention relates to an irradiation apparatus having at least one exchangeable radiation source that can be moved between at least one non-operative position and at least one radiating position by means of a transport cable, the apparatus further having a transport container for transporting radiation sources to be exchanged.
An irradiation apparatus of this type is known from, for example, EP-B1-0 138 088, the content of which is incorporated by reference into the disclosure of the present description.
The object of this known irradiation apparatus, which includes a plurality of radiation sources, is to simultaneously insert a predeterminable number of radiator holding elements into the corresponding number of hollow probes by means of a single drive device. In one specific embodiment, the irradiation apparatus is equipped with only as many radiation sources as are necessary for the therapy to be performed in each treatment situation. For this purpose, the radiation sources are accommodated in small, easy-to-handle, flat cassettes that contain a radiation-source shield in addition to a drive-cable storage drum. The individual cassettes are manually inserted with their flat sides close together into an easily-accessible cassette compartment such that the cassette housing latches with the irradiation apparatus in a closely-adjacent arrangement. Therefore, for an individual radiation therapy, it is only necessary to click the correct cassette combination into the irradiation apparatus. This relieves the treatment technician of the task of transferring the radiator to be used from shielded storage containers into the irradiation apparatus and back as needed using the transport cable, as was formerly the case. Because the flat cassettes must be compact and must be able to be coupled among themselves in the irradiation apparatus, they are not readily suitable for long-distance transport, for example from and to the manufacturer/disposer. Hence, irradiation apparatuses of this type additionally necessitate a radiation-source transport container.
More stringent safety requirements are placed on generic irradiation apparatuses that are intended for use in intra-arterial irradiation to prevent a post-angioplasty restenosis. An irradiation apparatus of this type and a treatment method are described in, among other publications, EP-A1-0 633 041. This publication is incorporated by reference into the disclosure of the present patent application.
The known irradiation apparatuses are especially subject to a certain risk of operator's error during exchange of the radiation source, so that the radiation source can only be exchanged by specially trained personnel. The radiation sources are supplied to the user in a transport container that typically has two channels. The one channel serves to receive the old radiation sources, that is, the sources to be exchanged, while the other channel serves to receive the fresh radiation source. The irradiation apparatus is connected to the empty channel of the transport container by way of a transport hose. The transport cable subsequently moves the radiation source to be exchanged into the transport container. The drive-side end of the transport cable is detached by the drive after the radiator-side end has been secured against sliding in the transport container. The transport hose is subsequently connected to the channel containing the fresh radiation source, and the fresh radiation source is transferred into the irradiation apparatus in reverse order with respect to the old radiation source. The exchange of radiation sources is a critical situation, because the radiation source is forced to exit the shield of the irradiation apparatus via the transport hose during the process, and because the transport cable must be completely detached and recoupled. In particular, any arbitrary radiation source can be drawn into the irradiation apparatus, so confusion or errors can occur over the whereabouts of old or new radiation sources.
It is therefore the object of the invention to provi

REFERENCES:
patent: 3669093 (1972-06-01), Sauerwein et al.
patent: 4631415 (1986-12-01), Sauerwein et al.
patent: 4851694 (1989-07-01), Rague et al.
patent: 5139473 (1992-08-01), Bradshaw et al.
International Search Report dated Nov. 29, 1996.
International Preliminary Examination Report dated Sep. 30, 1997.

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