Abstract: A system and method for delivering radiation treatment to a moving target within a patient according to a preprogrammed treatment plan including determining a difference between a surrogate signal representing a physical characteristic associated with said patient's actual breathing pattern during radiation treatment delivery and a tracking signal representing a physical characteristic associated with said patient's expected breathing pattern during radiation treatment delivery, and regulating a speed of delivery of said radiation treatment based on said determined difference.

Abstract: A method of treating a cancerous region in a breast of a patient comprising (i) imaging the breast in a three-dimensional coordinate system, (ii) stereotactically determining the location of the cancerous region in the breast, (iii) optionally determining the volume of the entire cancerous region to be treated, and (iv) while maintaining the breast in a three-dimensional coordinate system that is identical to or corresponds with the three-dimensional coordinate system used in (i), noninvasively exposing the cancerous region of the breast of the patient to a cancer-treatment effective dose of radiation; and equipment for use in such a method.

Abstract: A method of imaging a breast comprising (i) having a patient lie prone on a computer-controlled couch, which comprises a channel or left and right openings, and position the left or right breast of the patient in the channel or the left or right opening, respectively, and (ii) repeatedly imaging the breast using a scanning x-ray source while moving the couch down and up, such that the breast moves down and up in the field between the source of radiation and the detector, which method can further comprise constructing a three-dimensional image of the breast in its natural shape and analyzing the three-dimensional image of the breast; and a system for use in such a method.

Abstract: A method for delivering therapeutic radiation during a radiation treatment procedure to a tumor moving within a patient due to physiological activity of the patient includes: in a preliminary procedure, monitoring motion of the tumor to generating and record a surrogate signal representing the tumor motion; determining a radiation therapy plan for the patient including a planned sequence of varying parameters of a radiation beam to track the tumor motion and a planned rate of execution of the planned sequence; configuring a radiation therapy device to deliver radiation in accordance with the radiation therapy plan, positioning the patient within the device, and activating the device to perform the planned sequence; monitoring tumor motion during the procedure to provide a treatment surrogate signal; determining the difference between the estimated and treatment surrogate signals; and regulating the speed of the radiation treatment procedure by varying the rate of execution of the sequence of beam parameter

Abstract: A method for delivering therapeutic radiation to a tumor within a patient including: monitoring tumor motion in a preliminary procedure to generate and record a surrogate signal representing the tumor motion; determining a radiation therapy plan for the patient including a planned sequence of varying parameters of a radiation beam to track the tumor motion and a planned rate of execution of the planned sequence; configuring a radiation therapy device to deliver radiation in accordance with the radiation therapy plan, positioning the patient within the device, and activating the device to perform the planned sequence; monitoring tumor motion during the procedure to provide a treatment surrogate signal; determining the difference between the estimated and treatment surrogate signals; and regulating the speed of the radiation treatment procedure by varying the rate of execution of the sequence of beam parameters in accordance with the difference between the estimated and treatment surrogate signals.

Abstract: Techniques for improving treatment delivered to a target site in a patient include delivering a treatment from a treatment delivery device to a target site in a patient supported by a patient support structure. During the delivery of treatment, a state of the patient is measured to produce real-time measurement data. Measuring the state is non-invasive; and the measured state is a correlated surrogate for position of the target site. Compensating movement data is determined based on the real-time measurement data to cause the target site to maintain a particular spatial relationship with the treatment delivery device. Either the treatment delivery device, or the support structure, or both, are moved based on the compensating movement data. When the delivery device alone is moved, the correlation between measured state and target site is based on partial least squares applied to pre-treatment measurements of both.

Abstract: A method for delivering therapeutic radiation during a radiation treatment procedure to a tumor moving within a patient due to physiological activity of the patient includes: in a preliminary procedure, monitoring motion of the tumor to generating and record a surrogate signal representing the tumor motion; determining a radiation therapy plan for the patient including a planned sequence of varying parameters of a radiation beam to track the tumor motion and a planned rate of execution of the planned sequence; configuring a radiation therapy device to deliver radiation in accordance with the radiation therapy plan, positioning the patient within the device, and activating the device to perform the planned sequence; monitoring tumor motion during the procedure to provide a treatment surrogate signal; determining the difference between the estimated and treatment surrogate signals; and regulating the speed of the radiation treatment procedure by varying the rate of execution of the sequence of beam paramete

Abstract: A method and system for simulating and verifying a radiation therapy beam prior to treatment. The system also permits the accurate positioning of the beam with respect to the patient. The system utilizes a contour on a prescription image which defines the location and shape of a desired radiation treatment area to generate a transmissive projection which projects the exact field contour onto the patient during simulation. The patient can then be marked with this field contour prior to treatment in the simulation apparatus. With the patient placed in the treatment apparatus the accurate positioning of the patient can be achieved by aligning the patient's skin markings with a light projected through a multi-leaf collimator onto the skin. Furthermore, the correct functioning of the multi-leaf collimator can be verified in this manner since incorrect leaf positions will show up in the light projected onto the patient's skin.