KR101448075B1 - Charged Particle Beam Dosimetry Device and Imaging Device thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a radiation dose measuring device and an imaging device of a charged particle. The radiation dose measuring device includes a dark box housing of a structure sealed from the outside; a fixing bar installed at the upper end of the dark box housing; a guiderail installed at the lower end of the dark box housing; a water phantom box disposed inside the dark box housing and moving along the guiderail; a transparent box connected to the fixing bar to have a position fixed inside the water phantom box; and a sensing element disposed at one surface of the transparent box and sensing energy intensity of the radiation released from a nozzle beam in response to the change in thickness of water due to movement of the water phantom box. Also, the imaging device further includes a mirror mounted inside the transparent box; and a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera taking a picture of an image formed on the mirror. According to the present invention, the energy intensity of a proton beam or a neutron beam released from the nozzle beam in accordance to the change in the thickness of water inside the water phantom box can be adjusted, and an image of a desired object can be obtained as a proton-based or a neutron-based image required for a treatment plan.

Description

Technical Field [0001] The present invention relates to a charged particle beam dosimetry device and an imaging device,

The present invention relates to a radiation dose measuring apparatus, and more particularly, to a radiation dose measuring apparatus for acquiring a proton beam dose distribution in a patient so as to optimize the energy of a proton beam output from a nozzle beam during proton therapy, The present invention relates to a radiation dose measuring apparatus and a video apparatus for accurately measuring the maximum reaching distance of a proton beam by acquiring image information of a proton beam based on a proton.

Radiation therapy uses radiation for the treatment of disease, and it can be used to delay the growth of malignant diseases such as cancer cells or to prevent the spread of disease by using radiation in the form of waves such as X-rays, gamma rays, It is the treatment that destroys the cause.

Radiotherapy can maximize the effect of radiation therapy by precisely locating the source of radiation to a target of radiation, e.g., the location of the tumor to be treated, and then intensively focusing on the target. In other words, when performing radiation therapy, it is most important that the radiation is focused only on the tumor site and not on the normal tissue.

However, the conventional radiation (X-ray) treatment has a side effect of mass destruction of normal cells exposed to radiation as well as cancer cells.

Recently proton therapy has been introduced to solve this problem. Proton therapy is a method of transferring small energy in the front part of the medium into which the proton beam is incident, and passing the remaining energy into the medium and stopping it immediately before stopping.

Thus, until the proton beam reaches the cancerous target site, it is irradiated with little radiation to normal normal tissue, and when it reaches the tumor, all the energy is released and eliminated, and it does not have a typical effect on the normal tissue behind the tumor. Therefore, proton therapy has the advantage of minimizing the risk of damage to healthy normal tissue surrounding the tumor compared to conventional radiation (X-ray) treatment.

Proton therapy, which provides this advantage, is important to set the beam nozzle to output the proton beam of optimal energy. This is because the proton beam of the optimum energy corresponding to the state, size or depth of the tumor can be examined to obtain the maximum therapeutic effect.

If the energy level of the proton beam can not be optimized to the characteristics of the patient tumor, it may cause medical accidents by applying stronger radiation than necessary to the patient.

On the other hand, proton therapy uses imaging devices that photograph various tumors. If the size or position of the tumor is known through the imaging device, the proton beam is used to remove the tumor. Therefore, the imaging device should be provided with precise and accurate photographing performance so that the doctor can make a correct judgment.

Currently, X-ray-based CT images used in proton therapy plan have the advantage of providing precise anatomical image information, but CT image-based treatment planning algorithms accurately calculate the maximum range of the proton passing through the medium There was a limit to paying.

Korean Patent Registration No. 10-1197397

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems, and to provide a radiation dose measuring apparatus, And to provide a measuring device.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a video device capable of acquiring image information for an object to be imaged such as a tumor on a proton basis and measuring the maximum reach distance of the actual proton beam more accurately and precisely in the medium .

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a lighting apparatus comprising: a dark box housing having an airtight structure; A fixing bar installed at the upper end of the dark box housing and a guide rail installed at the lower end; A water phantom box constructed within the dark box housing and moving along the guide rails; A transparent box connected to the fixed bar and fixed in the water phantom box; And a sensing element provided on one side of the transparent box and sensing intensity of radiation energy emitted from the nozzle beam corresponding to a change in the thickness of water as the water phantom box moves. do.

One surface of the transparent box having the sensing element is a surface on which the radiation first arrives.

The radiation is a proton or inteber beam.

The thickness of the water corresponds to a change in distance between one surface of the water phantom box and one surface of the transparent box provided with the sensing element.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus comprising: a dark box housing having an outer and an airtight structure; A water phantom box installed in the dark box housing and moved by a driving force; A transparent box fixedly installed in the water phantom box; A scintillation plate installed in one surface of the transparent box through which a proton beam first arrives; A mirror installed at a predetermined angle with the flash plate; And a beam emitted from the beam emitted in proportion to the intensity of the energy remaining when the energy remaining in the beam passing through the object passes through the scintillation plate passes through the object positioned in the discharge path of the beam nozzle, And a camera for displaying the image.

The image of the object is provided at a different value according to the thickness variation of the water in the water phantom box.

The thickness of the water corresponds to the distance change with the transparent box fixed according to the movement of the water phantom box.

The radiation dose measuring apparatus and imaging apparatus of the present invention as described above have the following effects.

The present invention can adjust the energy intensity of the proton beam emitted from the nozzle beam according to the change in the thickness of the water in the water phantom box (that is, the maximum reach distance of the proton beam can be adjusted as much as the thickness of the water) The dose distribution of the proton beam to be examined under optimal conditions for each patient can be confirmed accurately before the actual treatment, and a safe and efficient treatment effect can be expected.

In addition, since the present invention can acquire a proton-based image of a desired object by adjusting the thickness of water when an object such as a human body or an animal is photographed, information that accurately reflects the reaction of the proton in the medium is obtained And the accuracy of the treatment plan is improved.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a radiation dose measuring apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention;
FIGS. 3A to 3C are views showing a change in water thickness according to the movement of a water phantom box;
4 is a view showing a configuration when a radiation dose measuring apparatus is applied to a video apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments of a radiographic apparatus and a radiographic apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The present invention is applied to a proton or intracellular therapeutic method, and uses a proton or a conjugate which exhibits a phenomenon known as a bragg peak. In other words, the proton (hydrogen ion) and the intruder (carbon ion) have substantially similar Bragg peaks, so that they can be applied not only to the proton but also to the intruder. However, the present embodiment is limited to the proton therapy method.

And to allow the proton beam to pre-adjust the energy magnitude of the proton beam output through the beam nozzle to treat only tumors of cancerous cells. In other words, the proton beam is irradiated from the beam nozzle, and a signal corresponding to the energy level of the irradiated proton beam is generated and informed to the outside, thereby providing a principle to check beforehand how much of the proton beam is to be used before the treatment.

Next, the radiation dose measuring apparatus and the imaging apparatus will be described separately.

FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 are overall schematic views for explaining a radiation dose measuring apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 3A to 3C are reference views showing changes in water thickness according to movement of a water phantom box.

A beam nozzle 10 is constructed as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The beam nozzle 10 converts a proton beam accelerated and accelerated with a characteristic of a Bragg curve in an accelerator to a depth dose curve suitable for a treatment or a proton beam of a dotted circle reaches a large area And the like.

A dark box housing (100) is formed in front of the beam nozzle (10). The dark box housing 100 should be constructed in a closed form so that light can not pass through at all. In the dark box housing 100, a fixing bar 110 is installed on the upper side and a guide rail 120 is installed on the lower side.

In the dark box housing 100, a water phantom box 130 positioned in a direction parallel to the direction in which the proton beam is output from the beam nozzle 10 is provided. The water phantom box 130 is filled with water. The water phantom box 130 moves along the guide rail 120. To this end, a driving motor 140 for moving the water phantom box 130 is mounted in the dark box housing 100. The driving shaft of the driving motor is connected to one side of the water phantom box 130. In the drawing, gears are used. However, it is natural that the water phantom box 130 can be moved using another method.

In the water phantom box 130, a transparent box 150 is provided in an outer surface surrounded by water. The transparent box 150 is placed in the water phantom box 130 with its top hanging on the fixing bar 110. That is, the transparent box 150 is fixed without changing its position.

Therefore, the water phantom box 130 moves along the guide rail 120 as the driving motor 140 is driven. However, since the transparent box 150 is fixed to the fixing bar 110, The thickness of the water between one surface of the water phantom box 100 located on one side and the surface of the transparent box 150 is changed. The water thickness will be described with reference to Fig. 3 below.

The transparent box 150 is provided with a sensing element 152 for sensing a proton beam. Any type of sensing element 152 can be used as long as it can sense the energy intensity of the proton beam. Thus, the sensing element 152 may be provided on the inner surface of the transparent box 150 where the proton beam emitted from the beam nozzle 10 first arrives. Or a device that is separately mounted within the transparent box 150. Alternatively, the sensing element 152 may be a scintillation screen. When a scintillation plate is applied, the proton can sense light emitted in proportion to the energy of the proton as it passes through the scintillation plate. The scintillator plate should also be provided on the inner surface of the transparent box 150 where the proton beam emitted from the beam nozzle 10 first arrives.

A controller 160 is configured to control the drive of the drive motor 140 for movement of the water phantom box 130 based on the sensing result of the proton beam. The controller 160 is located outside the dark box housing 100 and stores information such as the energy intensity of the proton beam according to the thickness of the water as a result of the sensing. The controller 160 may be a PC or the like. At this time, the controller 160 must be spaced a certain distance from the beam nozzle 10 and the dark box housing 100 to minimize the influence of the proton beams. Or a shield plate may be provided therebetween.

Next, the operation of the radiation dose measuring apparatus constructed as above will be described. 3, which schematically illustrates the nozzle beam 10 and the dark box housing 100 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 when viewed in plan. And the water phantom box 130 in the dark box housing 100 moves according to the driving force of the driving motor 140. The thickness of the water phantom box 130 in the dark box housing 100 is shown in FIG.

As described above, according to the present invention, the maximum reachable distance is measured by measuring the energy of a proton beam which varies depending on the thickness of water between one surface of the water phantom box 130 located close to the beam nozzle 10 and one surface of the transparent box 150, . This makes it possible to measure the water thickness continuously or discontinuously.

To this end, the user controls the driving of the driving motor 140 by operating the controller 160.

When the drive motor 140 is controlled, the water phantom box 130 is moved along the guide rail 120.

The water phantom box 130 is positioned at a predetermined position, for example, closest to the beam nozzle 10 as shown in FIG. 3A, at a point where the distance between the water phantom box 130 and the transparent box 150 becomes d ₁ To be referred to as the " first position "), the proton beam is emitted from the beam nozzle 10. When the water phantom box 130 is in the first position, the water thickness is the thickest.

When the proton beam is emitted, the emitted proton beam reaches one side of the transparent box 150 through one side of the dark box housing 100 and a predetermined thickness of water. And the resulting proton beam is provided to the sensing element 152 located on the inner surface of the transparent box 150. The sensing element 152 measures the energy intensity of the proton beam, and the result is received by the controller 160.

The driving motor 140 is driven again to move the water phantom box 130. The moved position is referred to as a position (referred to as a 'second position') at which the distance between the water phantom box 130 and the transparent box 150 becomes d ₂ as shown in FIG. 3B. In the second position, the water thickness becomes thinner than the first position.

And emits a proton beam when the water phantom box 130 is in the second position. The controller 160 receives the energy intensity of the proton beam measured by the sensing element 152 located on the inner surface of the transparent box 150 as described above.

The driving motor 140 is driven again to move the water phantom box 130. When the distance between the water phantom box 130 and the transparent box 150 becomes d ₃ as shown in FIG. 3C (referred to as a 'third position') according to the movement, as described above The sensing element 152 senses the energy intensity of the proton beam and the controller 160 receives the energy.

As described above, in this embodiment, the water phantom box 130 can be moved to set the thickness of water differently, and the energy range of the proton beam is measured to measure the maximum reachable range. Since the maximum reach of the proton beam can be adjusted by the thickness of water depending on the energy intensity of the measured proton beam, it is possible to select the degree of proton beam to be provided to the patient when treating the actual patient.

In the above description, the water phantom box 130 is set to the first to third positions, but it is natural that the water phantom box 130 can be further subdivided and moved.

In addition, the proton beam is emitted after the water phantom box 130 is positioned at a predetermined position (i.e., the first to third positions), and then the energy intensity of the proton beam is measured. However, the present invention is not limited thereto. That is, when the water phantom box 130 is continuously moved by the driving motor 140 while the proton beam is continuously emitted from the beam nozzle 10, the size / intensity of the proton beam may be sensed.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a radiation dose measuring apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Here, in describing a video apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention, the same components as those of the radiation dose measuring apparatus described with reference to FIG. 1 will be denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant explanations will be omitted. That is, the dark box housing 100, the water phantom box 130, the driving motor 140, and the controller 160 in which the beam nozzle 10, the fixing bar 110, and the guide rail 120 are installed, The difference is that a mirror 156 configured in the same transparent box 150 and a CCD camera 170 for acquiring image information are further added. In another embodiment, the scintillation plate installed in the transparent box 150 is indicated by reference numeral 154.

Referring to FIG. 4, a beam nozzle 10 is constructed.

A dark box housing (100) is formed in front of the beam nozzle (10).

An object 180 is positioned between the front of the beam nozzle 10 and the dark box housing 100.

In the dark box housing 100, a fixing bar 110 is provided on the upper side and a guide rail 120 is provided on the lower side.

In the dark box housing 100, a water phantom box 130 positioned in a direction parallel to the direction in which the proton beam is output from the beam nozzle 10 is provided. The water phantom box 130 moves along the guide rail 120 by driving the driving motor 140.

In the water phantom box 130, a transparent box 150 is formed, the outer surface of which is surrounded by water and is made of a material through which light can pass. The transparent box 150 is fixed in a state of being suspended from the fixing bar 110. Accordingly, when the water phantom box 130 moves, the thickness of water between one surface of the water phantom box 130 and one surface of the transparent box 150, which are located close to the beam nozzle 10, is variable. When the transparent box 150 is mounted in the water phantom box 130, it is preferable to mount the transparent plate 150 at a position where there is little water thickness in the direction of the CCD camera in order to measure the light of the flash plate reflected by a mirror described later. For example, as seen in the drawing, the transparent box 150 is positioned in close contact with the lower end of the water phantom box 130.

Inside the transparent box 150, a scintillation screen 154 is formed. The scintillation plate 154 serves to emit light in proportion to the intensity of the energy that the protons emitted from the beam nozzle 10 pass through when the remaining energy passes through the object, which will be described later. The scintillator plate 154 should be installed on the inner surface of one side of the transparent box 150 where the proton beam first arrives.

Inside the transparent box 150, a mirror 156 is configured to face the strobe plate 154 with respect to the traveling direction of the proton beam while maintaining an angle of 45 °. An image of light emitted in proportion to the energy intensity when passing through the scintillator plate 154 is formed on the surface of the mirror 156. The angle between the scintillation plate 154 and the mirror 156 may vary depending on the position of the CCD camera 170.

A CCD camera 170 is mounted to photograph an image formed on the mirror 156.

The imaging device thus configured can selectively use the energy of the proton beam while varying the thickness of the water, thereby acquiring the image of the object 180 accordingly.

That is, when the water phantom box 130 is moved by operating the drive motor 140 as in the above-described example, the thickness of the water in the water phantom box 130 is changed. In this state, when the proton beam having the predetermined energy is emitted from the nozzle beam 10, the proton beam passes through the object 180 and reaches the scintillator plate 154.

The scintillation plate 154 emits light while receiving the energy of the proton beams represented by different values depending on the shape and thickness of the object 180 and the like. This light is transmitted as it is to the mirror 156 in the transparent box 150, and the image is formed on the surface of the mirror 156 in proportion to the emitted light.

The image formed on the mirror 156 is captured by the CCD camera 170 located in the dark box housing 100 and transmitted to the controller 160.

When the object 180 is positioned in front of the nozzle beam 10 while slightly changing the structure of the inside of the transparent box 150 among the radiation dose measuring apparatuses, will be. The image acquisition of the object 180 can provide information that accurately reflects the characteristics of the proton rather than the existing X-ray.

As described above, according to the present invention, since the energy of the proton beam can be measured while varying the water thickness, it is possible to set the proton beam having the optimum condition suitable for the treatment, Able to know.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments. It will be apparent that modifications, variations and equivalents of other embodiments are possible. Therefore, the true scope of the present invention should be determined by the technical idea of the appended claims.

10: beam nozzle 100: dark box housing
110: Fixing bar 120: Guide rail
130: Water phantom box 140: Driving motor
150: transparent box 152: sensing element
160: Controller 170: CCD camera
180: object

Claims (7)

A dark box housing of an outer and airtight structure;
A fixing bar installed at the upper end of the dark box housing and a guide rail installed at the lower end;
A water phantom box constructed within the dark box housing and moving along the guide rails;
A transparent box connected to the fixing bar and fixedly installed in the water phantom box; And
And a sensing element provided on one side of the transparent box and sensing intensity of radiation energy emitted from the nozzle beam corresponding to a change in thickness of water as the water phantom box moves,
Wherein the sensing element is located at an isocenter of the nozzle beam so as to perform a sensing operation. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein one surface of the transparent box having the sensing element is a surface on which the radiation first arrives. 3. The method of claim 2,
Wherein the radiation is a proton or an intracellular beam. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the thickness of the water corresponds to a change in distance between one surface of the water phantom box and one surface of the transparent box provided with the sensing element. A dark box housing of an outer and airtight structure;
A fixing bar installed at the upper end of the dark box housing and a guide rail installed at the lower end;
A water phantom box constructed within the dark box housing and moving along the guide rails;
A transparent box connected to the fixing bar and fixedly installed in the water phantom box;
A sensing element provided on one side of the transparent box and sensing the intensity of radiation energy emitted from the nozzle beam corresponding to a change in thickness of the water as the water phantom box moves;
A mirror installed at a predetermined angle with the sensing element; And
A beam emitted from a beam emitted in proportion to the intensity of energy remaining when an energy remaining in the object passing through the object passes through the sensing element, the protons emitted toward the object located in the emission path of the beam nozzle, Camera,
Wherein the sensing element is located at an isocenter of the nozzle beam so as to perform a sensing operation. 6. The method of claim 5,
Wherein the image of the object is provided at a different value according to a change in thickness of water in the water phantom box. The method according to claim 6,
Wherein the thickness of the water corresponds to a change in distance from the transparent box fixed according to the movement of the water phantom box.

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