Patent ID: 6814694
Filing Date: 2004-11-09
Classification: A61N

Abstract:
An apparatus for treating a patient using proton therapy, comprising:a proton beam guiding device employing magnets, quadrupoles, and an end-mounted proton beam guiding and control device with an exit window for guiding or directing the proton beam to the treatment spot in the patient; a controllably movable patient table for moving the patient to the desired position relative to the proton beam, said table positioned over an immobile floor; wherein the proton beam guiding and control device is located so as to be turnable or rotatable by turning or rotating less than a fill 360Â° about a horizontal axis in such a way that there results a region through which the proton beam guiding and control device is not freely movable, in which region the patient table located in essentially the plane of the horizontal axis of rotation remains accessible from the side and the beam guiding and control device is arranged to be turnable or rotatable by at least 135Â° upwards and downwards from a horizontal plane running essentially through the horizontal axis of rotation; and wherein the patient table is rotatable in a horizontal plane running essentially through the axis of rotation of the proton beam guiding device or parallel to it and displaced by a small deviation around an axis which runs essentially through the isocenter of the apparatus, which isocenter is formed by the intersection of the proton beam with the horizontal axis of rotation or with the intersection by approximation of the beam with the horizontal axis of rotation.