Method intraoperative electron beam radiotherapy using remotely located beam generator

摘要

A microtron-generated electron beam may be selectively routed through an extended electron beam transport system to a remotely located intraoperative radiotherapy (IORT) facility. The beam current is preferably limited to a value (e.g., 100 nanoamperes) so as to avoid the necessity for overly extensive shielding along the beam transport system and at the remote therapy site while yet being sufficiently high to provide effective treatments. The intraoperative radiotherapy gantry and treatment head are preferably optimized for just this purpose and is thus considerably simplified over conventional electron/photon therapy gantries and treatment heads. In a method of intraoperative radiotherapy, different energy level beams are capable of being generated, a low level beam transported over a light shielded system to a conventional operating suite, with a high energy beam transported to a conventional radiotherapy site. In addition, the electron beam output of the microtron may be utilized on a time-shared basis with a plurality of similar and/or conventional electron/proton therapy systems.