Patent ID: 8083408

Claim:
A method for improving radiation therapy by reducing patient alignment time, decreasing cost per patient, and reducing non-therapeutic radiation exposure to a patient, the method comprising: providing a computerized treatment planning system; providing an isocentric mechanical gantry that houses a beam delivery system for radiation therapy, the gantry having a gantry rotation axis; performing a single alignment procedure by reproducibly interfacing a patient with radiation equipment to obtain anatomical and morphological information, the alignment procedure comprising each of the following five steps: registering the patient by placing the patient on a patient positioner in a reproducible manner, the patient positioner configured to rotate about at least one patient positioner rotation axis; immobilizing the patient by attaching the registered patient to the patient positioner so that the patient and patient positioner move together as a single unit in a controlled fashion; localizing target tissue within the patient by determining the location of the target relative to radiation equipment; positioning the patient by moving the patient positioner to place the target in a desired orientation at a desired location, both with respect to the radiation equipment; verifying the target's orientation and location with respect to the radiation equipment using the same technique used in the localizing step; with the treatment planning system, using the results of the single alignment procedure to create a single set of pre-measured data representing a fine positional adjustment that compensates for characteristics of the patient and patient positioner together; using the single set of pre-measured data to accurately position the patient with respect to the gantry; and irradiating the patient from multiple gantry directions without realignment, each time relying on the same single set of pre-measured data resulting from the single alignment procedure.