Method of imaging motion of an organ

• US 10,674,987 B2
• Filed: 04/14/2015
• Issued: 06/09/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 04/15/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: 4DMedical Ltd.
• Original Assignee: 4Dx, Ltd.
• Inventors: Fouras, Andreas
• Primary Examiner(s): Moher, Amanda Lauritzen
• Assistant Examiner(s): Sheng, Chao
• Application Number:
  US15/300,367
• Publication Number:
  US 20170143289A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,883 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/055 involving electronic [EMR] or nuclear [NMR] magnetic resonance, e.g. magnetic resonance imaging
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7282 Event detection, e.g. detecting unique waveforms indicative of a medical condition A61B5/4094, A61B5/4818, A61B5/349, A61B5/0823 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/02 Arrangements for diagnosis sequentially in different planes; Stereoscopic radiation diagnosis
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/022 Stereoscopic imaging
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/032 Transmission computed tomography [CT]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/4014 arranged in multiple source-detector units
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/4085 Cone-beams
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/487 involving fluoroscopy
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/5217 extracting a diagnostic or physiological parameter from medical diagnostic data
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/5288 involving retrospective matching to a physiological signal
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/541 involving acquisition triggered by a physiological signal
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/542 involving control of exposure
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/08 Detecting organic movements or changes, e.g. tumours, cysts, swellings A61B8/02 - A61B8/06 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/5223 for extracting a diagnostic or physiological parameter from medical diagnostic data for algorithms to analyse biomedical images G06T7/0012
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/30 for calculating health indices; for individual health risk assessment

Abstract

A method of imaging motion of an organ that changes volume in a patient including the steps of monitoring change in volume of the organ, and recording multiple in vivo images of the organ, wherein the change of organ volume between the images is constant or of some other predetermined value.

Claims

1. A method of measuring an organ motion of an organ in a patient including the steps of:

monitoring a change in volume of the organ,

acquiring at least three in vivo fluoroscopy x-ray images of the organ, wherein a timing of image acquisition of the at least three in vivo fluoroscopy x-ray images is triggered by a plurality of monitored changes in volume of the organ so that each of the at least three in vivo fluoroscopy x-ray images of the organ is acquired at a different one of a plurality of instances of a same change in volume that occurs within one respiration cycle, and

measuring the organ motion between two or more of the at least three in vivo fluoroscopy x-ray images.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein:

monitoring the change in volume of the organ creates monitoring data that is fed in real time to an imaging control system, and

acquiring the at least three in vivo fluoroscopy x-ray images of the organ is carried out in response to an actuation signal from the imaging control system.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the change in volume of the organ between acquisitions of the at least three in vivo fluoroscopy x-ray images is a predetermined value.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the change in volume of the organ between acquisitions of the at least three in vivo fluoroscopy x-ray images is a predetermined constant value.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein measuring the organ motion comprises:

reconstructing a spatial velocity of organ motion from the at least three in vivo fluoroscopy x-ray images of the organ.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein:

monitoring the change in volume of the organ creates monitoring data that is fed in real time to an imaging control system,

acquiring the at least three in vivo fluoroscopy x-ray images of the organ comprises;

acquiring a first plurality of in vivo fluoroscopy x-ray images from a first perspective in response to an actuation signal from the imaging control system, and

acquiring a second plurality of in vivo fluoroscopy x-ray images of the organ from at least one further perspective in response to an actuation signal from the imaging control system, and

measuring the organ motion comprises subsequently, reconstructing a spatial velocity of organ motion from the first plurality of in vivo fluoroscopy x-ray images and the second plurality of in vivo fluoroscopy images.

7. The method according to claim 1 wherein the organ is a lung.

8. A computer readable storage medium for storing in non-transient form an application to enable monitoring, acquiring images and timing according to claim 1.

9. An application stored on non-transitory medium adapted to enable imaging, said application comprising a predetermined instruction set adapted to enable a method according to claim 1.

10. In an apparatus having;

(i) one or more energy sources; and

(ii) one or more detectors for acquiring images created by energy from the one or more energy sources passing through a subject intermediate the energy source and detector;

a signal processing unit, comprising a sensor to monitor the change in volume of the organ, an output of the sensor providing an input to trigger the timing of image acquisition in accordance with the method of claim 1.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein

acquiring the at least three in vivo fluoroscopy images of the organ comprises acquiring a first plurality of in vivo fluoroscopy x-ray images of the organ from a first perspective and acquiring a second plurality of in vivo fluoroscopy x-ray images of the organ from a second perspective, and

measuring the organ motion comprises subsequently, reconstructing a spatial velocity of organ motion from in vivo fluoroscopy x-ray images acquired from the first perspective and the second perspective.

12. A method of measuring an organ motion of an organ in a patient including the steps of:

monitoring a change of a parameter value corresponding to motion of the organ, wherein the change of the parameter value is a change in volume or flow of the organ,

acquiring at least three in vivo fluoroscopy x-ray images of the organ, wherein a timing of image acquisition of the at least three in vivo fluoroscopy x-ray images is triggered by a plurality of monitored changes in the parameter value so that each of the at least three in vivo fluoroscopy x-ray images of the organ is acquired at a different one of a plurality of instances of a same change in parameter value that occurs within one respiration cycle, and

measuring the organ motion between two or more of the at least three in vivo fluoroscopy x-ray images.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the change of the parameter value between acquisitions of the at least three in vivo fluoroscopy x-ray images is a predetermined value.

14. The method according to claim 12, wherein the change of the parameter value between acquisitions of the at least three in vivo fluoroscopy x-ray images is a predetermined constant value.

15. The method according to claim 12 wherein the organ is a lung.

16. The method according to claim 12, wherein:

monitoring the change in parameter value creates monitoring data that is fed in real time to an imaging control system, and

acquiring the at least three in vivo fluoroscopy x-ray images of the organ is carried out in response to an actuation signal from the imaging control system.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein:

a spatial velocity of lung motion is reconstructed from the at least three in vivo fluoroscopy x-ray images.

18. The method according to claim 16, wherein:

acquiring the at least three in vivo fluoroscopy x-ray images of the organ comprises;

acquiring a first plurality of in vivo fluoroscopy x-ray images from a first perspective in response to an actuation signal from the imaging control system, and

acquiring a second plurality of in vivo fluoroscopy x-ray images of the organ from at least one further perspective in response to an actuation signal from the imaging control system, and

measuring the organ motion comprises subsequently, reconstructing a spatial velocity of organ motion from the first plurality of in vivo fluoroscopy x-ray images and the second plurality of in vivo fluoroscopy images.