A system and method for aligning the position of a target within a body of a
patient
to a predetermined position used in the development of a radiation treatment plan
can include an ultrasound probe used for generating live ultrasound images, a position
sensing system for indicating the position of the ultrasound probe with respect
to the radiation therapy device, and a computer system. The computer system is
used to display the live ultrasound images of a target in association with representations
of the radiation treatment plan, to align the displayed representations of the
radiation treatment plan with the displayed live ultrasound images, to capture
and store at least two two-dimensional ultrasound images of the target overlaid
with the aligned representations of the treatment plan data, and to determine the
difference between the location of the target in the ultrasound images and the
location of the target in the representations of the radiation treatment plan.