Method for treating brain tumors

Claim 1

A method of treating brain minors in patient, comprising the steps of: A. identifying and locating a brain tumor in vivo; B. implanting at least a portion of a selectively operative x-ray source in said patient proximate to said tumor, said x-ray source including: i. a housing enclosing a beam generation means for generating an electron beam along a beam path; ii. an elongated tubular probe extending along a central axis from said housing and about said beam path, said beam path being along or slightly off-set from said central axis; iii. a target assembly including a target element and said means for coupling said target assembly to the end of said probe distal from said housing whereby said target element is positioned along said beam path, wherein said target element is responsive to electrons incident thereon to emit x-rays photons; and C. controlling the operation of said x-ray source to selectively irradiate said tumor, wherein said controlling step includes the substeps of: i. providing at least one x-ray photon detector affixed to said housing, ii. positioning said x-ray photon detector whereby said detector is responsive to x-ray photons propagating from said target element along or slightly off-set from said central axis to generate an x-ray photon signal representative of the incidence of an x-ray photon thereon, and iii. counting said x-ray photon signals and terminating the operation of said x-ray source when the number of counted x-ray photon signals matches a predetermined value.

Claim 2

A method of treating brain minors in patient, comprising the steps of: A. identifying and locating a brain tumor in vivo; B. implanting at least a portion of a selectively operative x-ray source in said patient proximate to said tumor, said x-ray source including: i. a housing enclosing a beam generation means for generating an electron beam along a beam path; ii. an elongated tubular probe extending along a central axis from said housing and about said beam path, said beam path being along or slightly off-set from said central axis; iii. a target assembly including a target element and said means for coupling said target assembly to the end of said probe distal from said housing whereby said target element is positioned along said beam path, wherein said target element is responsive to electrons incident thereon to emit x-rays photons; and C. controlling the operation of said x-ray source to selectively irradiate said tumor, wherein said controlling step includes the substeps of: i. providing at least one x-ray photon detector affixed to said housing, ii. positioning said x-ray photon detector whereby said detector is responsive to x-ray photons propagating from said target element along or slightly off-set from said central axis to generate an x-ray photon signal representative of the incidence of an x-ray photon thereon, and iii. counting said x-ray photon signals and terminating the operation of said x-ray source when the number of counted x-ray photon signals matches a predetermined value.