	US 12,138,486 B2
	System for radiation therapy
Panagiotis Delinikolas, Glasgow (GB); Bernhard Hidding, Glasgow (GB); and Fahim Ahmad Habib, Glasgow (GB)
Assigned to University of Strathclyde, Glasgow (GB)
Appl. No. 17/762,304
Filed by The University of Strathclyde, Glasgow (GB)
PCT Filed Sep. 25, 2020, PCT No. PCT/EP2020/076936 § 371(c)(1), (2) Date Mar. 21, 2022, PCT Pub. No. WO2021/058756, PCT Pub. Date Apr. 1, 2021.
Claims priority of application No. 20190100414 (GR), filed on Sep. 25, 2019; and application No. 1915586 (GB), filed on Oct. 28, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0331610 A1, Oct. 20, 2022
Int. Cl. A61N 5/10 (2006.01); H05H 1/54 (2006.01)

CPC A61N 5/1077 (2013.01) [H05H 1/54 (2013.01); A61N 2005/1087 (2013.01); H05H 2245/34 (2021.05); H05H 2277/11 (2013.01)]

20 Claims

1. A medical system for providing radiotherapy, the system comprising a particle accelerator configured to produce a radiation beam for irradiating at least a part of a subject, the particle accelerator comprising:

a plasma zone comprising or configured to receive a plasma; and

at least one beam source configured to provide an excitation beam through the plasma zone; wherein

the medical system is configured to provide a plurality of charged particles in the plasma in a region that propagates through the plasma zone behind the excitation beam such that the plurality of charged particles are accelerated and usable to produce the radiation beam with a broadband energy distribution, wherein at least one of:

at least part or all of the energy distribution of the radiation beam is exponential or power-law;

particle accelerator is configured such that the radiation beam provides a dose-depth profile in which 75% or more of a dose of the radiation beam is delivered at and below 2 g/cm⁻²; and

particle accelerator is configured such that the radiation beam has an energy or energy distribution in a range from 10 eV to 10 MeV.

19. A method of adapting a medical radiotherapy apparatus comprising a LINAC to produce a broadband radiation beam having an energy distribution that is exponential or power-law, the method comprising fitting the apparatus with a gas jet or plasma cell for providing a plasma zone, the gas jet or plasma zone being arranged such that a plurality of charged particles are receivable in the plasma zone in a region that propagates through the plasma zone behind an excitation beam such that the plurality of charged particles are accelerated and usable to produce the radiation beam with a broadband energy distribution, wherein at least one of:

at least part or all of the energy distribution of the radiation beam is exponential or power-law;

the radiation beam delivers 75% or more of a dose of the charged particles at and below 2 g/cm⁻²; and

the radiation beam has an energy or energy distribution in a range from 10 eV to 10 MeV.