Method and device for delivering radiotherapy

1. A method for improving radiation therapy by reducing patient alignment time, decreasing cost per patient, and reducing non-therapeutic radiation exposure to a patient, the method comprising:

providing a computerized treatment planning system;

providing an isocentric mechanical gantry that houses a beam delivery system for radiation therapy, the gantry having a gantry rotation axis;

performing a single alignment procedure by reproducibly interfacing a patient with radiation equipment to obtain anatomical and morphological information, the alignment procedure comprising each of the following five steps:

registering the patient by placing the patient on a patient positioner in a reproducible manner, the patient positioner configured to rotate about at least one patient positioner rotation axis;

immobilizing the patient by attaching the registered patient to the patient positioner so that the patient and patient positioner move together as a single unit in a controlled fashion;

localizing target tissue within the patient by determining the location of the target relative to radiation equipment;

positioning the patient by moving the patient positioner to place the target in a desired orientation at a desired location, both with respect to the radiation equipment;

verifying the target's orientation and location with respect to the radiation equipment using the same technique used in the localizing step;

with the treatment planning system, using the results of the single alignment procedure to create a single set of pre-measured data representing a fine positional adjustment that compensates for characteristics of the patient and patient positioner together;

using the single set of pre-measured data to accurately position the patient with respect to the gantry; and

irradiating the patient from multiple gantry directions without realignment, each time relying on the same single set of pre-measured data resulting from the single alignment procedure.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising providing pre-measured data sets characterizing gantry-specific movement and using those data sets to compensate for that movement before irradiating the patient.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, before irradiating the patient, using a fine alignment sub-system to move the patient and patient positioner with respect to the gantry to compensate for positional inaccuracies resulting from gantry movement.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, before irradiating the patient, adjusting the gantry, shifting an aperture or block holding cone, shifting the position of collimators, or shifting the magnetic scan pattern to compensate for deflection of the gantry structure.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the patient positioner is a movable table.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein placing the patient on a patient positioner comprises placing the patient in a supine position.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein registering the patient further comprises at least partially surrounding the patient with low-density foam.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein immobilizing the patient is accomplished with a thermoplastic net.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the thermoplastic net covers the patient and registration device and attaches to the patient positioner.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising performing high precision localization and verification using radiography to find fiducial markers.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising aligning the gantry rotation axis and the patient positioner rotation axis such that the two axes intersect at an isocenter.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein performing a single alignment procedure and using the single set of pre-measured data positions the target at the isocenter.

13. A method for improving teletherapy by reducing patient alignment time, decreasing cost per patient, and reducing radiation exposure to a patient, the method comprising:

providing a computerized treatment planning system;

providing a gantry for delivering radiation;

performing a single alignment procedure to create a single set of pre-measured data that is specific to the patient and to the gantry;

using the single set of pre-measured data and the treatment planning system and a fine alignment subsystem to precisely position the patient; and

irradiating a patient from multiple gantry directions without realigning the patient between radiation doses.

14. A system for aligning a patient for delivering multiple beams of radiation, the system comprising:

a registration and immobilization device configured to register and immobilize a patient to a diagnostic positioner;

a scanner configured to perform a scan of the patient to create images and provide the images to a computerized treatment planning system;

the computerized treatment planning system configured to use the images to determine a target location in the patient that is desired to correspond to an isocenter of a radiation treatment device having a gantry and to determine the target location relative to a reference point of the diagnostic positioner;

a calculating device configured to calculate, based on known differences between the diagnostic positioner and a treatment positioner and on the relationship between the treatment positioner and the radiation treatment device, coordinates for placing the target location at the isocenter of the radiation treatment device;

the treatment positioner configured to accept the same registration and immobilization devices that were used for the scan;

an automatic positioner configured to use the coordinates to automatically position the target at or near the isocenter;

an imager configured to acquire one or more localization images with the patient in one or more radiation fields for determination of any discrepancy between the actual position of the target and the actual isocenter;

a fine alignment subsystem configured to automatically correct for the discrepancy, if any; and

the automatic positioner configured to automatically compensate for movement of the gantry and movement of a snout of the radiation treatment device, the compensation based on:

pre-measured data sets that recorded movement of the radiation treatment device during gantry rotation and snout extension; and

sensors recording the present gantry angle and snout extension.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein: the automatic positioner is further configured to use the fine alignment sub-system to automatically position the target at or near the isocenter.

16. The system of claim 14 , wherein: the automatic positioner is further configured to use the fine alignment sub-system to automatically compensate for movement of the gantry and movement of a snout of the radiation treatment device.

17. The system of claim 14 , wherein the same fine alignment subsystem is configured to accomplish each of the following:

use the coordinates to automatically position the target at or near the isocenter;

automatically correct for any discrepancy between the actual position of the target and the actual isocenter determined by one or more localization image(s); and

automatically compensate for movement of the gantry and movement of the snout.