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EP-3939392-B1 - METHOD OF DETERMINING WHETHER REPAIR OR REPLACEMENT OF A MAGNETRON OF A RADIOTHERAPY LINEAR ACCELERATOR SHOULD BE SCHEDULED, AND COMPUTER READABLE MEDIUM TO PERFORM THE METHOD

EP3939392B1EP 3939392 B1EP3939392 B1EP 3939392B1EP-3939392-B1

Inventors

  • CHIAP, Alessandra
  • VEGA, German
  • RICHARDSON, KEITH
  • REED, STUART
  • FLINT, Chris
  • JORDAO, Marcelo

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20200319

Claims (15)

  1. A method of determining whether repair or replacement of a magnetron (122, 230) of a linear accelerator should be scheduled, the method comprising: receiving data indicative of the output of the magnetron in operation; processing the data to determine values of the output of the magnetron; comparing the determined values to a threshold; based on the comparison, determining whether repair or replacement of a magnetron should be scheduled; outputting the determination whether repair of replacement of the magnetron should be scheduled.
  2. The method of claim 1, wherein the threshold is determined by a method comprising: receiving, from a plurality of magnetrons in operation, data indicative of the output of each magnetron of the plurality of magnetrons prior to failure; processing the data from each magnetron of the plurality of magnetrons to determine the threshold indicative of magnetron failure.
  3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the data is indicative of the current trace of the magnetron output; and wherein processing the data to determine values comprises determining the pulse width, pulse height and noise level of the current trace.
  4. The method of any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the data is indicative of the voltage trace of the magnetron output; and wherein processing the data to determine values comprises determining the pulse width, pulse height and noise level of the voltage trace.
  5. The method of any preceding claim, wherein the data indicative of the output of a magnetron comprises one or more machine parameters, and wherein processing the data comprises analysing trending of the machine parameters.
  6. The method of any preceding claim wherein: receiving data indicative of the output of a magnetron comprises receiving three sets of data; wherein processing the data to determine values of the output of the magnetron comprises determining a value for each set of data; comparing each of the determined values to a threshold comprises comparing each determined value to a respective threshold to determine if a condition is met; if two or more of the conditions are met, determining that repair or replacement of a magnetron should be scheduled.
  7. A computer readable medium configured to perform the method of any preceding claim.
  8. A system comprising: a computer readable medium according to claim 7; a central server; and a linear accelerator system comprising: a waveguide for accelerating electrons along an acceleration path; a magnetron configured to supply a radiofrequency electromagnetic field to the waveguide; an oscilloscope connected to the magnetron and configured to provide signals indicative of the magnetron output; a processor configured to receive signals from the oscilloscope and to send data to the central server.
  9. The system of claim 8, wherein the linear accelerator system further comprises a control unit for controlling operation of the linear accelerator, wherein the control unit is configured to transmit data relating to operation of the linear accelerator to the central server.
  10. The system of 9, wherein the control unit is configured to control operation of the linear accelerator in accordance with a treatment plan, and wherein the control unit is configured to transmit information relating to the treatment plan to the central server.
  11. The system of claim 9 or 10, wherein the control unit is configured to transmit information comprising at least one of: length and frequency of electron pulses delivered by the linear accelerator; total time of operation of the linear accelerator; total number of pulses delivered by the linear accelerator.
  12. The system of any of claims 8 to 11, wherein the signals indicative of the magnetron output comprise signals indicative of the magnetron voltage and current pulses.
  13. The system of any of claims 8 to 12, further comprising a sensor configured to provide signals indicative of the output of at least one other component of the linear accelerator, wherein the processor is further configured to send the signals indicative of the output of the at least one other component of the linear accelerator to the central server.
  14. The system of any of claims 8 to 13, wherein the processor is configured to send data to the central server via an internet, intranet, WLAN or peer-to-peer connection.
  15. The system of any of claims 8 to 14, wherein the data is sent to the central server to be accessed at a location remote from the linear accelerator.

Description

FIELD The present disclosure relates to a radiotherapy device, and to a method of monitoring a radiotherapy device. BACKGROUND Radiotherapy is an important tool in modern cancer treatment. Radiotherapy devices are large, complex machines, with many moving parts and inter-operating mechanisms. Despite precision engineering and rigorous testing, some component parts of a radiotherapy device may start to degrade over its lifetime. This can sometimes lead to sub-optimal operation and even the occasional safety override. If at any point during treatment a radiotherapy device starts to function outside of its normal operating parameters, a safety override or "interrupt" occurs, whereby the machine stops delivering radiation to ensure patient safety. Such an event is inconvenient, as it adds time to the treatment, and in some cases means the treatment session must finish prematurely. Unplanned equipment downtime can disrupt planned treatment schedules, and may be expensive for the machine owner, be it due to loss of revenue, servicing and repair costs, or both. It has been surmised that predictive maintenance and/or remote diagnostic techniques could be applied to radiotherapy machines. Identifying the link between particular data patterns and the particular fault or degrading component is often non-intuitive even for experienced service engineers. The present disclosure relates generally to collecting data from a radiotherapy device, particularly to collecting and remotely analysing data from a of radiotherapy device, and using analysis to determine if a magnetron of a radiotherapy device is nearing the time at which it should be replaced or repaired. To date, no such predictive approach has been possible, and existing methods of servicing and repair of a radiotherapy device require sending a field service engineer to inspect the machine, take measurements from the magnetron, and diagnose and fix the problem. Since the type of problem or the component which is at fault is not known in advance, time consuming diagnostic testing must be performed on-site. Existing methods therefore result in a significant amount of machine down time. Also, in existing methods, a field service engineer is not made aware of a potential issue until the component has degraded to a point where the radiotherapy machine is undergoing safety interrupts, or even until the point where the radiotherapy machine cannot operate within its safety parameters. This means that the servicing of the radiotherapy machine is often scheduled at a time which is inconvenient, or inefficient in terms of both field service engineer resources and the resources of the hospital or other machine owner. The present invention seeks to address these and other disadvantages encountered in the prior art by providing a method of determining, preferably remotely, whether repair or replacement of a magnetron in a radiotherapy device should be scheduled. US2003/072411 A1 andLee Sung Hyun et al."X-band Linac for a 6 MeV dual-head radiation therapy gantry" NIM A, vol.852, pp.40-45are examples of radiotherapy linear accelerators powered by a magnetron. SUMMARY In a first aspect the invention defines a method of determining whether repair or replacement of a magnetron of a linear accelerator should be scheduled, according to claim 1. In a second aspect the invention defines a computer readable medium according to claim 7. Further advantageous embodiments are defined in the dependent claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Specific embodiments are described below by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 illustrates a radiotherapy device according to an aspect of the disclosure;Figure 2 illustrates a block diagram of a radiotherapy device according to the disclosure;Figure 3 illustrates a method of predicting a fault in a magnetron in a radiotherapy device system according to an aspect of the disclosure;Figure 4 illustrates a method of predicting a fault in a radiotherapy device according to an aspect of the disclosure;Figure 5 illustrates a method of predicting a fault in a radiotherapy device according to an aspect of the disclosure. SPECIFIC DESCRIPTION OF CERTAIN EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS Radiotherapy devices are an important tool in modern cancer treatment. Radiotherapy devices are large, complex machines, with many moving parts and inter-operating mechanisms. Despite precision engineering and rigorous testing, some component parts of a radiotherapy machines may start to degrade over the lifetime of the machine. This can sometimes lead to sub-optimal operation and even the occasional safety override. If at any point during treatment a radiotherapy device starts to function outside of its normal operating parameters, a safety override or "interrupt" occurs, whereby the machine stops delivering radiation to ensure patient safety. Such an event is inconvenient, as it adds time to the treatment, and in some cases means the treatmen