Patent ID: 7482606

Claim:
Apparatus for compensation of three-dimensional movements of a target volume ( 1 ) on a patient support apparatus ( 2 ) during ion beam irradiation using a raster scanning apparatus ( 3 ), wherein a compensation apparatus comprises: a position location and tracking system ( 4 ) which detects the three-dimensional movements of the target volume ( 1 ), and a depth modulator ( 6 ) which re-adjusts the depth of penetration w of the ion beam ( 5 ), the raster scanning apparatus ( 3 ), which deflects the ion beam ( 5 ) transversely and which is in operative connection with a location measurement, control and read-out module (SAMO) and a module for changing the beam excursion (SAMS), wherein the position location and tracking system ( 4 ) is in operative connection with a movement measurement, control and read-out module SAMB; and the depth modulator ( 6 ) is in operative connection with the movement measurement, control and read-out module SAMB, and the movement measurement, control and read-out module (SAM B) comprising a microprocessor having a memory, and the memory comprising data of a model of a structure of healthy tissue that covers the target volume ( 1 ) in the upstream direction of the beam, and the microprocessor comprising computational components which break down the detected movements of the target volume ( 1 ) vectorially into longitudinal and transverse components relative to the ion beam ( 5 ) and which compare the longitudinal components with the stored model for correction of the depth of penetration w of the ion beam ( 5 ).