GUIDED CHARGED PARTICLE IMAGING/TREATMENT APPARATUS AND METHOD OF USE THEREOF

1 . A method for treating a tumor of a patient using a treatment beam, comprising the steps of:

transporting positively charged particles, of the treatment beam, from an accelerator to the tumor using a beam transport system, the charged particles sequentially resultant in formation of a radioactive nuclei in the tumor, positron emission from the radioactive nuclei, electron positron annihilation, and gamma ray emission;

providing a dynamic treatment beam positioning system comprising a set of detectors and a controller;

detecting the gamma ray emission using said set of detectors;

said controller, using output of said set of detectors:

determining a corresponding source voxel of the gamma ray emission;

comparing position of said source voxel to a target voxel;

generating a feedback signal to said beam transport system; and

dynamically adjusting state of subsequent positively charged particles of the treatment beam using the feedback signal.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of:

positioning a first detector and a second detector, of said set of detectors, on opposite sides of the patient.

3 . The method of claim 2 , further comprising the steps of:

moving said set of detectors toward an exit nozzle of said beam transport system to monitor a first depth of penetration of the treatment beam into the tumor; and

moving said set of detectors away from said exit nozzle to monitor a second depth of penetration of the treatment beam into the tumor, the second depth of penetration larger than the first depth of penetration.

4 . The method of claim 3 , further comprising the step of:

said controller positioning said set of detectors as a function of energy of the treatment beam.

5 . The method of claim 2 , further comprising the step of:

translating said first detector and said second detector past the patient; and

imaging the tumor during said step of translating.

6 . The method of claim 5 , said step of imaging further comprising the steps of:

subsequent to a treatment session of the tumor using the treatment beam, generating a first positron emission tomography image of the tumor using ongoing gamma ray emission resultant from ongoing decay of the radioactive nuclei.

7 . The method of claim 6 , said step of imaging further comprising the steps of:

subsequent to said step of generating the first positron emission tomography image and prior to the patient departing from a treatment position used in the treatment session, generating a second positron emission tomography image of the tumor using ongoing gamma ray emission resultant from ongoing decay of the radioactive nuclei; and

comparing the second positron emission tomography image to the first positron emission tomography image.

8 . The method of claim 6 , further comprising the step of:

generating at least one two-dimensional X-ray image of the patient while the patient remains in the treatment position used in the treatment session.

9 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising the step of:

forming a hybrid positron emission tomography-X-ray tomography image of an original tumor position of the tumor.

10 . The method of claim 2 , said step of detecting further comprising the step of:

detecting gamma ray emission resultant from an atom irradiated in said step of transporting, the radioactive decay of the atom comprising a half-life of less than two minutes.

11 . The method of claim 10 , the radioactive decay of the atom comprising a half-life of less than thirty seconds.

12 . The method of claim 2 , further comprising the step of:

determining a current treatment voxel through detection of gamma rays from a voxel not previously emitting gamma rays in a current treatment session of the tumor.

13 . The method of claim 12 , said step of determining a current treatment voxel further comprising the step of:

determining the current treatment voxel on a first axis with a first pair of gamma ray detectors of said set of detectors; and

determining the current treatment voxel on a second axis with a second pair of gamma ray detectors of said set of detectors, the first axis and the second axis forming an angle of greater than forty degrees.

14 . An apparatus for treating a tumor of a patient using a treatment beam, comprising:

a beam transport system configured to transport positively charged particles, of the treatment beam, from an accelerator to a patient positioning system, the charged particles sequentially resultant in formation of radioactive nuclei in the tumor, positron emission from the isotope, electron positron annihilation, and gamma ray emission; and

a dynamic treatment beam positioning system, comprising:

a set of detectors configured to detect the gamma ray emission;

a controller, said controller:

configured to determine a corresponding source voxel of the gamma ray emission;

compare position of the source voxel to a target voxel; and

generate a feedback signal to said beam transport system, said feedback signal used to dynamically adjust state of subsequent positively charged particles of the treatment beam.

15 . The apparatus of claim 14 , said dynamic treatment beam positioning system further comprising:

a first mount mounting a first detector of said set of detectors on a first side of the tumor during use; and

a second mount mounting a second detector of said set of detectors on a second side of the tumor during use, the first side and the second side on opposite sides of the tumor.

16 . The apparatus of claim 15 , said set of detectors further comprising:

a first array of detectors positioned on a first side of a beam path of the treatment beam during use; and

a second array of detectors positioned on a second side of the beam path during use, the beam path between the first side and the second side.

17 . The apparatus of claim 14 , said set of detectors further comprising:

an arc of gamma ray emission detectors circumferentially positioned about the patient positioning system.