GB1045546A - Improvements in apparatus for effecting therapeutic treatment - Google Patents

Abstract

In apparatus for therapeutic treatment of a disease, e.g cancer, a beam of ionising radiation, e.g. g -, X- or b - rays and a beam of V.H.F. or micro-wave radiation, are directed at a particular diseased point in the patients body, in such a way that the two beams intersect only at this point, the apparatus being arranged so that either the emitter of the ionising radiation moves around the patient or the patient is arranged to be rotated in the path of the ionising radiation beam. The diseased part is first of all irradiated by the V.H.F. or micro-wave radiation, e.g. decimetre waves of about 69 cms. wavelength, in order to heat the diseased part, rendering it hyperaemic and therefore increasing the effectiveness of the treatment by the ionising rays which follow. The arrangements described also avoid irradiation, by ionising rays, of healthy tissue which has already been subjected to decimetre radiation. In a first embodiment (Fig. 1, not shown) the patient 1 sits upright on a rotating stool 17, driven by a motor 19. The axis of rotation, 1a, passes through the point 2 to be treated. The positions of the ionising ray emitter 3 and decimetre ray emitter 9 and of the patient are adjustable so that the intersection of the beams can be accurately located. In a second embodiment (Fig. 2, not shown), the patient 1 lies on a couch 17a and the two emitters are mounted on a framework 21a, 7a which is arranged to rotate about an axis 1a through the point 2. To ensure that the ionising beam does not pass through healthy tissue previously irradiated by source 9a, the emitters may be mounted at substantially different angles a ,b to the axis 1a. If a and b are equal, rotation should be through an angle not greater than 180 degrees. In a third embodiment (Fig. 3, not shown), the emitter 3b, for the ionising rays, is arranged to describe a tightening spiral on a spherical surface 30, the centre of which coincides with the point 2. The emitter 9b is connected rigidly to the emitter 3b, and is arranged to irradiate different zones of the healthy tissue only after the ionising beam 6b has already passed through. The drive for this arrangement comprises a motor 22b which rotates the whole framework about an axis 1a, coupled with a rope 47 which is reeled up as the framework revolves, causing movement of the emitter mounting up the guide groove 46a. A time lag may be provided between the initial operation of the decimetre source 9 and the source 3 to arrange preheating of the diseased part, but this is not necessary when the treatment time is long.