Therapy controller designed for patient irradiation at the SIN π--applicator

The ability to irradiate deep-seated cancers in human patients by using a powerful multientrant pion source is promising. The treatment time to deposit the necessary dose, measured in minutes, seems ideal for the clinical application. But there may be problems ahead if such fast-working, high-intensity equipment is not supervised by safety oriented control electronics. Therefore, human therapy is considered as a two step procedure. The first step, treatment planning, is done by a powerful computer. This computer generates commands and stores them on magnetic tape. In the second step the therapy controller reads, accepts, executes, and tests these commands automatically by using specially made control electronics. Continuous supervision of the pion irradiation is provided by a number of μP. If any malfunction is detected within the therapy control system, the automated treatment will be interrupted.