WO2024089956A1

WO2024089956A1 - Radiation therapy apparatus

Info

Publication number: WO2024089956A1
Application number: PCT/JP2023/026422
Authority: WO
Inventors: 孝石塚; 宏輝吉田; 優斎藤
Original assignee: 株式会社日立製作所
Priority date: 2022-10-27
Filing date: 2023-07-19
Publication date: 2024-05-02
Also published as: JP2024064144A

Abstract

The present invention addresses the problem of improving the maintainability of a radiation therapy apparatus.　A radiation therapy apparatus 10 is characterized by comprising a ring-shaped frame 11, and a radiation emitting unit 20 that slidably moves on the frame 11 and emits radiation inside the ring, the frame 11 including a hole portion 12 penetrating therethrough from the inside of the ring to the outside of the ring, wherein the radiation emitting unit 20 is composed of components at least one of which is attachable and detachable from the outside of the ring through the hole unit 12.

Description

Radiation Therapy Equipment

The present invention relates to a radiation therapy device.

A conventional device for irradiating a patient with radiation or the like is described in JP 2008-200092 A (Patent Document 1). This document states, "We provide a medical device that can rotate an irradiation ray emitting unit and the like with high positional accuracy for a long period of time." "The device includes a support frame 12 that is erected with its central axis positioned approximately horizontally, a circular track body 72 provided on each side of the support frame 12, a traveling gantry that rotates relative to the support frame 12 via a slide part 70 that slides on the circular track body 72, and a rotation drive device that rotates the traveling gantry. The traveling gantry is configured as a rigid frame structure that includes a first side part 59a and a second side part 59b that are arranged so as to sandwich the support frame 12 from both sides, and a connecting part 66 that connects the first side part 59a and the second side part 59b."

JP 2008-200092 A

The device disclosed in Patent Document 1 employs a gantry type in which a gantry is positioned to surround a patient lying on a couch and a radiation emission unit travels along or together with the gantry. The gantry type allows for highly accurate positioning because the radiation emission unit is supported by a highly rigid ring-shaped gantry.
However, gantry-type devices have maintenance issues. With conventional devices, when maintenance or replacement of the accelerating tube or electron gun is required, the mechanisms around the electron gun must be dismantled and the accelerating tube and electron gun must be removed from inside the gantry, which is a huge workload. In particular, the accelerating tube weighs several hundred kilograms, and removing it from inside the gantry requires a lot of effort.

The present invention aims to improve the maintainability of radiation therapy equipment.

In order to achieve the above object, one representative radiation therapy device of the present invention comprises a ring-shaped frame and a radiation irradiation unit that slides on the frame and irradiates the inside of the ring with radiation, the frame has a hole that penetrates from the inside of the ring to the outside of the ring, and at least some of the components that make up the radiation irradiation unit are removable from the outside of the ring through the hole.

The present invention can improve the maintainability of a radiation therapy device. Problems, configurations, and effects other than those described above will become clear from the description of the embodiments below.

Diagram of the frame of a radiation therapy device (part 1) Diagram of the frame of a radiation therapy device (part 2) External view of radiation therapy device Diagram of ring rotation

The following describes the embodiment with reference to the drawings.

1 is an explanatory diagram of a frame of a radiotherapy apparatus 10. The radiotherapy apparatus 10 includes a ring-shaped frame 11 therein.
The ring-shaped frame 11 is a gantry equipped with a track such as a rail, and the radiation emission unit 20 is capable of sliding along the track. This sliding movement causes the radiation emission unit 20 to rotate on the frame 11.
The radiation emitting unit 20 includes an electron gun 21 and the like, and irradiates the inside of the ring of the frame 11 with radiation.

Here, the central axis of the ring of the radiotherapy device 10 is approximately horizontal to the floor surface.
Although not shown in the figure, the treatment bed moves horizontally with the treatment subject placed thereon, and positions the treatment subject inside the ring.
The radiation emission unit 20 can irradiate radiation from any position on the frame 11 by rotating relative to the frame 11, thereby irradiating a predetermined part of the subject.

Hereinafter, for convenience, the position of the frame 11 will be expressed as an angle relative to the center of the ring, with the upward direction relative to the floor surface of the frame 11 being 0 degrees. That is, when the radiation irradiation unit 20 is at the 0 degree position of the frame 11, the radiation irradiation unit 20 is located directly above the subject of treatment. Similarly, when the radiation irradiation unit 20 is at the 180 degree position of the frame 11, the radiation irradiation unit 20 is located directly below the subject of treatment.

The frame 11 has a hole 12 penetrating from the inside of the ring to the outside of the ring.
At least some of the components constituting the radiation emission unit 20 are detachable from the outside of the ring through the hole 12 .
The hole 12 is provided at a position penetrating the frame in a substantially horizontal direction from the center of the ring. That is, the frame 11 has the hole 12 at either or both of the 90 degree position and the 270 degree position.
The hole 12 is wide on the inner circumference side of the ring and narrow on the outer circumference side of the ring, which allows a large space to be secured on the inner circumference side, improving the workability when an operator inserts his/her hand from the outer circumference side to attach/detach a part.

In Figure 1, the electron gun 21 is shown removed from among the components that make up the radiation irradiation unit 20. The radiation irradiation unit 20 has components such as the electron gun 21, an acceleration tube, a swivel mechanism, a collimator, and a filter. Of these, the electron gun 21 is located on the outermost side. For this reason, if maintenance or replacement of the electron gun 21 were to be performed from the inner side of the ring, it would be necessary to dismantle the radiation irradiation unit 20, and since many of the components are heavy, this would be a very heavy workload. On the other hand, in the configuration shown in Figure 1, maintenance or replacement of the electron gun 21 can be performed from the outer side, eliminating the need to dismantle the radiation irradiation unit 20 and greatly improving maintainability.

2 shows a state in which the acceleration structure 22, one of the components that make up the radiation irradiation unit 20, has been removed. The acceleration structure 22 is located relatively toward the outer periphery and weighs approximately several hundred kilograms. To assist in the attachment and detachment of the heavy acceleration structure 22, a jig 30 can be attached to the hole 12. The jig 30 attached to the hole 12 has a slide mechanism and functions as a scaffold for pulling the acceleration structure 22 outward.
Since the hole 12 is provided in a substantially horizontal direction, the acceleration structure 22 can be pulled out in a substantially horizontal direction by using the jig 30. Therefore, maintenance and replacement of the acceleration structure 22, which is a heavy object, can be performed safely and easily.

Specifically, first, the jig 30 is attached to the hole 12, and the slide mechanism of the jig 30 is attached to the acceleration tube 22. After that, the acceleration tube 22 is moved to the outside of the ring while still resting on the slide mechanism. Once the acceleration tube 22 is outside the ring, it can be lifted up using a hoist or the like as appropriate.

Fig. 3 is an external view of the radiotherapy device 10. As shown in Fig. 3, the lower side of the ring of the radiotherapy device 10 is partially embedded in the floor surface. In Fig. 3, the hole 12 is covered with a cover, but this cover can be opened/closed or removed during maintenance.
In addition, since the hole 12 is wider on the inner circumference side of the ring and narrower on the outer circumference side of the ring, the protrusion when the cover is attached is relatively small, and there is no increase in the space required to install the radiation therapy device 10.

Figure 4 is an explanatory diagram of the rotation of the ring. As shown in Figure 4, the frame 11 can rotate around an axis perpendicular to the floor surface. In other words, the angle between the direction in which the treatment subject, on which the treatment bed 40 is placed, is carried into the ring and the central axis of the ring can be controlled by rotating the frame 11.

The radiation therapy device 10 is in a state in which the frame 11 is rotated so that the hole 12 is located to the side of the treatment bed 40, and the radiation irradiation unit 20 is slid to be located on the inner periphery of the hole 12, making it ready for parts attachment and detachment. In this state, the area 50 for the surgeon who operates the treatment bed 40 can be used for parts maintenance work, so that high workability can be ensured while saving installation space.

As described above, the disclosed radiation therapy device 10 comprises a ring-shaped frame 11 and a radiation irradiation unit 20 that slides on the frame 11 and irradiates radiation to the inside of the ring, the frame 11 having a hole portion 12 that penetrates from the inside of the ring to the outside of the ring, and at least a part of the components that make up the radiation irradiation unit 20 is attachable and detachable from the outside of the ring through the hole portion 12.
This makes it possible to perform maintenance and replacement of parts without dismantling the radiation emission unit 20, improving the ease of maintenance of the radiation therapy apparatus.

The central axis of the ring is generally horizontal, and the hole 12 is provided at a position penetrating the frame 11 generally horizontally from the center of the ring.
This allows the components of the radiation emission unit 20 to be attached and detached horizontally from the outer periphery of the ring, improving the ease of maintenance of the radiation therapy device.

Among the components constituting the radiation irradiation unit 20, the electron gun 21 and/or the acceleration tube 22 are detachable from the outside of the ring through the hole 12.
In addition, a jig 30 used when attaching and detaching the acceleration structure 22 can be attached to the hole 12 .
In this manner, the disclosed radiotherapy apparatus 10 improves the maintainability of the accelerating structure 22 of the electron gun 21, and enables the accelerating structure 22, which is a heavy object, to be maintained safely and easily.

Moreover, the hole 12 is wider on the inner periphery side of the ring and narrower on the outer periphery side of the ring.
Therefore, the maintenance workability can be improved without increasing the size of the radiotherapy apparatus 10 .

In addition, the frame 11 can be rotated around an axis perpendicular to the floor surface, and the state in which the frame 11 is rotated so that the hole portion 12 is positioned to the side of the bed on which the subject of treatment is placed, and the radiation irradiation unit 20 is slid to be positioned on the inner side of the hole portion 12, is the state in which the parts are ready to be attached and detached.
This allows for a reduction in installation space while ensuring high workability.

The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, and various modifications are included. For example, the above-mentioned embodiment is described in detail to easily explain the present invention, and is not necessarily limited to the embodiment having all the described configurations. Moreover, the present invention is not limited to the deletion of the configurations, and it is also possible to replace or add the configurations.
As an example, in the above embodiment, the hole 12 is provided in the approximately horizontal direction (90 degrees and 270 degrees) from the center of the ring, but the hole 12 may be in the vicinity of the horizontal direction and may not include the strictly horizontal direction. Furthermore, the hole 12 may be made large so that a predetermined range in the vicinity of the horizontal direction is the hole 12.

10: Radiation therapy device, 11: Frame, 12: Hole, 20: Radiation irradiation section, 21: Electron gun, 22: Acceleration tube, 30: Jig, 40: Treatment bed, 50: Area

Claims

A ring-shaped frame,
a radiation irradiation unit that slides on the frame and irradiates the inside of the ring with radiation;
Equipped with
the frame has a hole passing through from the inside of the ring to the outside of the ring,
A radiation therapy device, characterized in that at least a part of the components constituting the radiation irradiation unit is detachable from the outside of the ring through the hole.
2. The radiotherapy device according to claim 1,
The central axis of the ring is generally horizontal.
A radiation therapy device, characterized in that the hole is provided at a position penetrating the frame in a substantially horizontal direction from the center of the ring.
2. The radiotherapy device according to claim 1,
A radiation therapy device, characterized in that, among the components constituting the radiation irradiation unit, an electron gun and/or an acceleration tube are removable from the outside of the ring through the hole.
2. The radiotherapy device according to claim 1,
Among the components constituting the radiation irradiation unit, an acceleration tube is detachable from the outside of the ring through the hole,
A radiation therapy apparatus, characterized in that the hole portion is capable of receiving a jig used when attaching and detaching the acceleration tube.
2. The radiotherapy device according to claim 1,
A radiation therapy device, characterized in that the hole has a shape that is wider on the inner periphery side of the ring and narrower on the outer periphery side of the ring.
3. The radiotherapy apparatus according to claim 2,
The frame is rotatable about an axis perpendicular to a floor surface,
A radiation therapy device characterized in that the state in which the part can be attached and detached is achieved by rotating the frame so that the hole is positioned to the side of a bed on which a patient to be treated is placed, and sliding the radiation irradiation unit so that it is positioned on the inner side of the hole.