Modulated radiation beam alignment for medical linear accelerator

1. A method comprising:

using one or more bending magnets and a collimator of a linear accelerator (LINAC) to generate a radiation beam;

using the LINAC to position a gantry at a first gantry angle;

with the gantry positioned at the first gantry angle, acquiring a first radiation transmission image indicative of a radiation field of the radiation beam after passing by a radiation opaque marker;

using the first radiation transmission image to determine a center of the radiation field of the radiation beam and a center of a shadow of the radiation opaque marker in the radiation field of the radiation beam;

determining that the center of the radiation field of the radiation beam is not at the center of the shadow of the radiation opaque marker;

if the center of the radiation field of the radiation beam is determined to not be at the center of the shadow of the radiation opaque marker, adjusting the radiation beam by adjusting a beam alignment parameter and repeating the radiation transmission image acquisition step and the centers determination step with the adjusted radiation beam and the gantry positioned at the first gantry angle until a center of the radiation field of the adjusted radiation beam is determined to be at the center of the shadow of the radiation opaque marker, wherein adjusting the beam alignment parameter adjusts a current supplied by the LINAC to the one or more bending magnets;

if the center of the radiation field of the adjusted radiation beam is determined to be at the center of the shadow of the radiation opaque marker, storing the adjusted beam alignment parameter as an optimal beam alignment parameter for the first gantry angle; and

using the adjusted beam alignment parameter stored as the optimal beam alignment parameter for the first gantry angle to adjust the current supplied by the LINAC to the one or more bending magnets when the gantry of the LINAC rotates to the first gantry angle.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising positioning the radiation opaque marker.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising positioning the radiation opaque marker at a radiation isocenter, wherein the radiation isocenter is a point in space where radiation beams generated by the LINAC intersect when the gantry of the LINAC rotates.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising determining the radiation isocenter.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising using an electronic portal imaging device (EPID) to generate the first radiation transmission image based on radiation received by the EPID.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the radiation opaque marker is a spherical radiation opaque marker.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the radiation field of the radiation beam is a square radiation beam.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining that the center of the radiation field of the radiation beam is not at the center of the shadow of the radiation opaque marker comprises:

determining a distance between the center of the radiation field of the radiation beam and the center of the shadow of the radiation opaque marker; and

determining that the distance is greater than a distance tolerance threshold.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining that the center of the radiation field of the adjusted radiation beam is at the center of the shadow of the radiation opaque marker comprises:

determining a distance between the center of the radiation field of the adjusted radiation beam and the center of the shadow of the radiation opaque marker; and

determining that the distance is less than a distance tolerance threshold.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the adjusted beam alignment parameter is stored as the optimal beam alignment parameter for the first gantry angle in a lookup table.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

using the LINAC to position the gantry at a second gantry angle;

with the gantry positioned at the second gantry angle, acquiring a second radiation transmission image indicative of the radiation field of the radiation beam after passing by the radiation opaque marker;

using the second radiation transmission image to determine a center of the radiation field of the radiation beam and a center of a shadow of the radiation opaque marker in the radiation field of the radiation beam;

determining that the center of the radiation field of the radiation beam is not at the center of the shadow of the radiation opaque marker;

if the center of the radiation field of the radiation beam is determined to not be at the center of the shadow of the radiation opaque marker, adjusting the radiation beam by adjusting a beam alignment parameter and repeating the radiation transmission image acquisition step and the centers determination step with the adjusted radiation beam and the gantry positioned at the second gantry angle until a center of the radiation field of the adjusted radiation beam is determined to be at the center of the shadow of the radiation opaque marker, wherein adjusting the beam alignment parameter adjusts the current supplied by the LINAC to the one or more bending magnets;

if the center of the radiation field of the adjusted radiation beam is determined to be at the center of the shadow of the radiation opaque marker, storing the adjusted beam alignment parameter as an optimal beam alignment parameter for the second gantry angle; and

using the adjusted beam alignment parameter stored as the optimal beam alignment parameter for the second gantry angle to adjust the current supplied by the LINAC to the one or more bending magnets when the gantry of the LINAC rotates to the second gantry angle.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, for each of N gantry angles:

using the LINAC to position the gantry at a gantry angle of the N gantry angles;

determining an optimal beam alignment parameter for the gantry angle of the N gantry angles, wherein the optimal beam alignment parameter adjusts the current supplied by the LINAC to the one or more bending magnets such that a center of the radiation field of the radiation beam is at a center of the radiation opaque marker when the gantry is at the gantry angle of the N gantry angle; and

storing the optimal beam alignment parameter for the gantry angle of the N gantry angles.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising using the N optimal beam alignment parameters stored for the N gantry angles to adjust the current supplied by the LINAC to the one or more bending magnets during rotation of the gantry.

14. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:

determining a formula for determining beam alignment parameters based on the N optimal beam alignment parameters stored for the N gantry angles; and

using the LINAC to adjust the current supplied by the LINAC to the one or more bending magnets based on the formula as the gantry rotates.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the LINAC employs parametric curve fitting or interpolation to determine the formula.

16. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

using the LINAC to position the collimator at least at a first collimator angle and a second collimator angle, wherein the first radiation transmission image is acquired with the gantry positioned at the first gantry angle and the collimator position at the first collimator angle, and the second collimator angle is different than the first collimator angle;

with the gantry positioned at the first gantry angle and the collimator positioned at the second collimator angle, acquiring an additional radiation transmission image indicative of a radiation field of the radiation beam after passing by the radiation opaque marker;

wherein the first radiation transmission image and the additional transmission image are used to determine the center of the radiation field of the radiation beam.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the center of the radiation field of the radiation beam is determined by averaging the center of the radiation field in the first radiation transmission field image and the center of the radiation field in the additional radiation transmission field image.

18. A linear accelerator (LINAC) comprising:

a gantry;

one or more bending magnets;

a collimator; and

a controller configured to cause the LINAC to:

use the one or more bending magnets and the collimator to generate a radiation beam;

position the gantry at a first gantry angle;

with the gantry positioned at the first gantry angle, acquire a first radiation transmission image indicative of a radiation field of the radiation beam after passing by a radiation opaque marker;

use the first radiation transmission image to determine a center of the radiation field of the radiation beam and a center of a shadow of the radiation opaque marker in the radiation field of the radiation beam;

determine that the center of the radiation field of the radiation beam is not at the center of the shadow of the radiation opaque marker;

if the center of the radiation field of the radiation beam is determined to not be at the center of the shadow of the radiation opaque marker, adjust the radiation beam by adjusting a beam alignment parameter and repeat the radiation transmission image acquisition step and the centers determination step with the adjusted radiation beam and the gantry positioned at the first gantry angle until a center of the radiation field of the adjusted radiation beam is determined to be at the center of the shadow of the radiation opaque marker, wherein adjusting the beam alignment parameter adjusts a current supplied to the one or more bending magnets;

if the center of the radiation field of the adjusted radiation beam is determined to be at the center of the shadow of the radiation opaque marker, store the adjusted beam alignment parameter as an optimal beam alignment parameter for the first gantry angle; and

use the adjusted beam alignment parameter stored as the optimal beam alignment parameter for the first gantry angle to adjust the current supplied by the LINAC to the one or more bending magnets when the gantry of the LINAC rotates to the first gantry angle.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the controller is further configured to cause the LINAC to:

position the gantry at a second gantry angle;

with the gantry positioned at the second gantry angle, acquire a second radiation transmission image indicative of the radiation field of the radiation beam after passing by the radiation opaque marker;

use the second radiation transmission image to determine a center of the radiation field of the radiation beam and a center of a shadow of the radiation opaque marker in the radiation field of the radiation beam;

determine that the center of the radiation field of the radiation beam is not at the center of the shadow of the radiation opaque marker;

if the center of the radiation field of the radiation beam is determined to not be at the center of the shadow of the radiation opaque marker, adjust the radiation beam by adjusting a beam alignment parameter and repeating the radiation transmission image acquisition step and the centers determination step with the adjusted radiation beam and the gantry positioned at the second gantry angle until a center of the radiation field of the adjusted radiation beam is determined to be at the center of the shadow of the radiation opaque marker, wherein adjusting the beam alignment parameter adjusts the current supplied by the LINAC to the one or more bending magnets;

if the center of the radiation field of the adjusted radiation beam is determined to be at the center of the shadow of the radiation opaque marker, store the adjusted beam alignment parameter as an optimal beam alignment parameter for the second gantry angle; and

use the adjusted beam alignment parameter stored as the optimal beam alignment parameter for the second gantry angle to adjust the current supplied by the LINAC to the one or more bending magnets when the gantry of the LINAC rotates to the second gantry angle.

20. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the controller is further configured to cause the LINAC to, for each of N gantry angles:

position the gantry at a gantry angle of the N gantry angles;

determine an optimal beam alignment parameter for the gantry angle of the N gantry angles, wherein the optimal beam alignment parameter adjusts the current supplied by the LINAC to the one or more bending magnets such that a center of the radiation field of the radiation beam is at a center of the radiation opaque marker when the gantry is at the gantry angle of the N gantry angle; and

store the optimal beam alignment parameter for the gantry angle of the N gantry angles.