Frameless radiosurgery treatment system and method

1. A system for directing a treatment beam towards an internal target region in a patient, comprising:

a treatment bed configured to support the patient during a treatment;

a respiratory motion detection system configured to track a respiration cycle of the patient based on monitoring external patient motion;

one or more diagnostic beam generators configured to generate diagnostic beams directed towards the patient at one or more particular points of the respiration cycle during one or more occurrences of the respiration cycle, wherein the one or more particular points comprise less than an entirety of the respiration cycle, the one or more diagnostic beam generators being located at one or more predetermined positions, wherein at least one beam from the one or more diagnostic beam generators is at a predetermined non-zero angle with respect to additional beams of the one or more diagnostic beam generators;

an image recording device located opposite the one or more diagnostic beam generators configured to receive the diagnostic beams from the one or more diagnostic beam generators, wherein the image recording device is configured to capture intra-treatment images of the patient from the diagnostic beams;

a processor configured to compare the intra-treatment images to a pre-treatment image to determine a location of the internal target region at the one or more particular points of the respiration cycle; and

a treatment beam generator configured to energize the treatment beam at a distinct point of the respiration cycle during a distinct occurrence of the respiration cycle during the treatment.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more diagnostic beam generators comprise one or more x-ray beam generators.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the image recording device comprises an amorphous silicon image recorder.

4. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a linear accelerator to generate the treatment beam.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to deform the intra-treatment images or the pre-treatment image, wherein the deformed intra-treatment images or deformed pre-treatment image are adapted to improve a match between the intra-treatment images and the pre-treatment image.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to generate a 3D intra-treatment image from the intra-treatment images and to compare the 3D intra-treatment image to a 3D pre-treatment image of the patient generated prior to treatment to determine the location of the internal target region.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the distinct point of the respiration cycle does not correspond to any of the one or more particular points of the respiration cycle, and wherein the distinct occurrence of the respiration cycle corresponds to one of the one or more occurrences of the respiration cycle.

8. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:

adjusting a targeting of the treatment beam to compensate for changes in the location of the internal target region, wherein the changes are identified based on the comparison of the intra-treatment images to the pre-treatment image.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the image recording device is located adjacent the treatment bed.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to generate a correlation between the one or more particular points of the respiration cycle and locations of the internal target region.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the respiratory motion detection system tracks the respiration cycle based on tracking positions of external markers disposed on the patient, and wherein the processor is further configured to determine a correlation between the positions of the external markers and locations of the internal target region.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to verify a correlation model between the respiration cycle and the location of the internal target region.

13. The system of claim 1 , wherein the distinct point of the respiration cycle corresponds to one of the one or more particular points of the respiration cycle, and wherein the distinct occurrence of the respiration cycle is a subsequent occurrence of the respiration cycle.

14. The system of claim 1 , wherein the treatment beam generator is further configured to shut off the treatment beam at a subsequent point during the distinct occurrence of the respiration cycle.

15. A method for directing a treatment beam towards an internal target region in a patient, comprising:

monitoring external movement of the patient to identify a respiration cycle of the patient;

energizing one or more diagnostic beams from one or more positions at a particular point of the respiration cycle within a particular occurrence of the respiration cycle to determine a location of the internal target region during a treatment;

generating a correlation model between locations of the internal target region and one or more points of the respiration cycle; and

energizing the treatment beam over at least one of the particular point of the respiration cycle or an additional point of the respiration cycle during the particular occurrence of the respiration cycle or a subsequent occurrence of the respiration cycle based on the correlation model to treat the internal target region.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein locating the internal target region during treatment comprises:

comparing intra-treatment images generated from the one or more diagnostic beams to a 3D pre-treatment image of the patient generated prior to treatment to identify changes in the location of the internal target region.

17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:

deforming the intra-treatment images or the 3D pre-treatment image, wherein the deformed intra-treatment images or deformed 3D pre-treatment image are adapted to improve a match between the intra-treatment images and the 3D pre-treatment image.

18. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:

adjusting a targeting of the treatment beam to compensate for the changes in the location of the internal target region.

19. The method of claim 15 , wherein locating the internal target region during treatment comprises:

generating a 3D intra-treatment image from 2D intra-treatment images generated from the one or more diagnostic beams; and

comparing the 3D intra-treatment image to a 3D pre-treatment image of the patient generated prior to treatment.

20. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:

energizing the treatment beam at the same particular point of the respiration cycle during a subsequent occurrence of the respiration cycle.

21. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:

energizing an additional diagnostic beam from a new position that is different from the one or more positions so that the additional diagnostic beam passes through the internal target region at a predetermined non-zero angle with respect to the one or more diagnostic beams, wherein the additional diagnostic beam is energized at the particular point of the respiration cycle within an additional occurrence of the respiration cycle.

22. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:

tracking the external movement of the patient by tracking the movement of one or more external markers by a tracking system.

23. An apparatus for directing a treatment beam towards an internal target region in a patient, comprising:

means for generating a three-dimensional image of the patient prior to the treatment;

means for determining a respiration cycle of the patient from external movement of the patient;

means for energizing one or more diagnostic beams at a particular point of the respiration cycle during a particular occurrence of the respiration cycle to determine a position of the internal target region during a treatment;

means for generating a correlation model between locations of the internal target region and one or more points of the respiration cycle; and

means for energizing the treatment beam over at least one of the particular point of the respiration cycle or an additional point of the respiration cycle during the particular occurrence of the respiration cycle or a subsequent occurrence of the respiration cycle based on the correlation model to treat the internal target region.

24. The apparatus of claim 23 , further comprising:

means for comparing images derived from the one or more diagnostic beams to the three-dimensional image to determine the position of the internal target region at the point of the respiration cycle; and

means for adjusting a targeting of the treatment beam in response to the comparison of the three-dimensional image and the images derived from the one or more diagnostic beams.

25. The apparatus of claim 23 , wherein the means for adjusting further comprises a computer-controlled robot for positioning the treatment beam.