Patent ID: 6266393
Filing Date: 2001-07-24
Classification: A61N,G21K

Abstract:
A multileaf collimator for use in a radiation system providing a radiation beam in a given beam direction, comprising:a first layer of a plurality of radiation blocking leaves, said leaves being arranged adjacent one another so as to form two opposed rows of adjacently positioned leaves and being movable in a longitudinal direction which is generally traverse to the beam direction so as to define a radiation beam shaping field between the opposed ends of the leaves;a second layer of a plurality of radiation blocking leaves, said leaves of said second layer being arranged adjacent one another so as to form two opposed rows of adjacently positioned leaves and being movable in a cross-over direction which is generally traverse to the beam direction and angled with respect to said longitudinal direction so as to define a radiation beam shaping field between the opposed ends of the leaves of said second layer; andactuator apparatus for moving said leaves of said first layer in the longitudinal direction and said leaves of said second layer in the cross-over direction, wherein said first and second layers are arranged one above another in an overlapping manner in the beam direction,wherein said first layer has a first longitudinal axis and said second layer has a second longitudinal axis, and wherein said longitudinal axes at said leaves in said layers are mutually perpendicular, the layers lying in mutually parallel planes.