Patent ID: 7899156

Claim:
A system comprising: an electron-beam scanner comprising: an electron emitter configured to produce an electron beam, an electron accelerator configured to accelerate the electron beam toward a target that produces an x-ray beam in response to being struck by the electron beam, a steering device configured to scan the electron beam along the target such that the produced x-ray beam is positioned relative to a portion of a region to be imaged, and a detector configured to sense x-ray radiation from the region and produce a representation of the sensed radiation; a source of irradiation energy configured to produce a treatment beam, wherein the electron beam scanner and the source of irradiation energy are positioned to allow the portion of the region to be exposed to the treatment beam and the produced x-ray beam concurrently; and a processor operable to: receive the representation of the sensed x-ray radiation, determine a characteristic of the imaged portion of the region based on the representation of the sensed x-ray radiation, and modify a property of the treatment beam based on the characteristic.