Dedicated breast radiation imaging/therapy system

1. A method of treating breast-related tissue of a prone patient comprising:

placing the patient on an upper surface of a patient table in a prone position, with a patient's breast protruding downward from the upper surface of the table through an opening or into a depression in the table;

irradiating a breast-related tissue with treatment radiation from a source selectively moving in a first motion in which it irradiates a first target volume of the breast-related tissue with a primary radiation beam that has a centerline below the table surface and in a second motion in which it irradiates a second target volume of the breast related tissue with a primary radiation beam that has a centerline angled from the horizontal and intersecting the table surface; and

selectively angling the beam to irradiate with primary radiation portions of the prone patient's breast-related tissue that are above the table surface.

2. A method as in claim 1 including imaging the patient placed on the table, before said irradiating step, with an imaging apparatus sharing a spatial frame of reference with said source, and using said imaging to develop, adjust or verify a radiation treatment plan.

3. A method as in claim 2 in which said imaging comprises three-dimensional (3D) imaging.

4. A method as in claim 3 in which said 3D imaging comprises one or more of ultrasound, x-ray imaging, and imaging using radiation emitted from within the patient.

5. A method as in claim 1 including introducing into the patient one or more sensors for at least one of position and radiation dose and utilizing said sensors in at least one of developing, adjusting, and verifying a radiation treatment plan for the patient.

6. A method as in claim 1 including interacting with a prone patient's breast for imaging and radiation treatment with a device that both tends to pull the breast from the patient's chest wall and to secure the breast in a selected position.

7. A method as in claim 1 including imaging the patient's breast with CT scanning while the patient is in the position on the patient table in which said irradiating is carried out.

8. A method as in claim 1 including detecting treatment radiation delivered to a target volume in or at breast-related tissue of the patient and delivering information regarding said detecting to one or more utilizing stations associated with the treatment system.

9. A method as in claim 1 including moving the source of the radiation to selectively irradiate patient tissue from a number of selected directions and selectively varying the distance between the source of the radiation and target tissue.

10. A system for radiation treatment of breast-related tissue comprising:

a patient table having an upper surface for supporting a patient, said table having a selectively revealed opening or depression for a patient breast to extend downwardly from the patient table surface when the patient is in a prone position on said table;

a therapy radiation source selectively emitting therapy radiation and a mounting structure supporting the source and selectively moving the source in a first motion in which it irradiates a first target volume with a primary radiation beam that has a centerline below the table surface and in a second motion in which it irradiates a second target volume with a primary radiation beam that has a centerline angled from the horizontal and intersecting the table surface.

11. A system as in claim 10 in which the first target volume is at a downwardly protruding breast of a patient in the prone position on the patient table and the second target volume is at the patient's axilla.

12. A system as in claim 10 further the mounting structure includes structure supporting the source for motion in which the source emits a therapy beam from a location above the table surface to directly irradiate breast-related tissue of a patient in the supine position on said table surface.

13. A system as in claim 10 including a table support and a an interlock mechanism configured to releasably secure the table at a selected position relative to a system frame of reference in which the source is at a known position, said interlock mechanism also configured to mate with a separate imaging device operative to generate imaging information for a radiation treatment plan for the patent, said treatment plan being spatially referenced to an interlocked position of the table to the imaging device.

14. A system as in claim 10 including a CT scanner mounted in the system and selectively brought in position for CT imaging of a patient in the prone position on said patient table.

15. A system as in claim 10 including an imaging system mounted in a known frame of reference relative to the therapy radiation source for selectively imaging breast-related tissue.

16. A system as in claim 15 in which said imaging system selectively provides 2D images of said tissue.

17. A system as in claim 15 in which said imaging system selectively provides 3D imaging information of said tissue.

18. A system as in claim 10 in which said mounting structure includes a positioning mechanism selectively varying a distance between said source of therapy radiation and said target volume.

19. A system as in claim 10 including a control unit directing the radiation source in accordance with previously generated treatment plans.

20. A system as in claim 10 in which said mounting structure comprises a rotating plate support on which said therapy radiation source is mounted for rotation about an axis extending along a length of said patient table.

21. A system for radiation treatment of breast-related tissue comprising:

a patient table having an upper surface for supporting a patient, said table having a selectively revealed opening or depression for a patient breast to extend downwardly from the patient table surface when the patient is in a prone position on said table;

a therapy radiation source selectively emitting therapy radiation and a mounting structure supporting the source and selectively moving the source in a first motion in which it irradiates a first target volume with a primary radiation beam that has a centerline below the table surface and in a second motion in which it irradiates a second target volume with a primary radiation beam that has a centerline angled from the horizontal and intersecting the table surface; and

wherein said therapy radiation comprises heavy charged particles having average energy in excess of 20 MeV and having a characteristic dose distribution with depth in breast tissue that has a Bragg peak followed by a rapid fall-off.

22. A system as in claim 21 wherein said average energy exceeds 80 MeV.

23. A system as in claim 22 wherein said average energy is in the range of 80-180 MeV.

24. A method of treating breast-related tissue of a prone patient comprising:

placing a patient on an upper surface of a patient table in a prone position, with a patient's breast protruding downward from the upper surface of the table through an opening or into a depression in the table; and

irradiating a breast-related tissue of the patient with treatment radiation from a source selectively moving in a first motion in which it irradiates a first target volume of the breast-related tissue with a primary radiation beam that has a centerline below the table surface and in a second motion in which it irradiates a second target volume of the breast related tissue with a primary radiation beam that has a centerline angled from the horizontal and intersecting the table surface;

said treatment radiation comprising heavy charged particles having average energy in excess of 20 MeV and having a characteristic dose distribution with depth in breast related tissue that has a Bragg peak followed by a rapid fall-off.

25. A method as in claim 24 wherein said average energy exceeds 80 MeV.

26. A method as in claim 25 wherein said average energy is in the range of 80-180 MeV.