ADJUSTING ACQUISITION PROTOCOLS FOR DYNAMIC MEDICAL IMAGING USING DYNAMIC MODELS

• US 20100183206A1
• Filed: 06/19/2008
• Published: 07/22/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/21/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Carlsen, Ingwer Curt, Bystrov, Daniel
• Granted Patent: US 8,705,819 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/128
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7285 for synchronising or triggering a physiological measurement or image acquisition with a physiological event or waveform, e.g. an ECG signal A61B6/5205, A61B6/541, A61B8/5207, A61B8/543 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/032 Transmission computed tomography [CT]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/037 Emission tomography
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/488 involving pre-scan acquisition
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/541 involving acquisition triggered by a physiological signal
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10076 4D tomography; Time-sequential 3D tomography
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30004 Biomedical image processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/149 involving deformable models, e.g. active contour models
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/215 Motion-based segmentation

Abstract

The invention relates to automatically adjusting an acquisition protocol for dynamic medical imaging, such as dynamic CT, MRI or PET imaging. The protocols are adjusted based on anatomic and dynamic models (10, 12, 14) which are individualized or fitted to each patient based on a scout scan (6, 8). The adjustment can compensate for changes in the patient due to patient motion (e.g. breathing or heartbeat) or flow of contrast or tracing agent during the sequence. This ensures that changes in the reconstructed images are indicative of pathological changes in the patient and not caused by patient motion or changes in scanning parameters or timing. The dynamic model can be a motion model (12) used to predict the motion of anatomic/physiologic features, typically organs, during scanning, or a haemodynamic model (14) used to predict flow of the contrast agent allowing for precise timing of the scanning sequence.

Claims

1. A method for adjusting an acquisition protocol for dynamic medical imaging of a body volume of a patient, the method comprising:

providing a reconstructed image of the body volume of the patient;

providing an anatomic model of the body volume and fitting the model to the body volume using the reconstructed image;

providing a preliminary acquisition protocol for dynamic medical imaging of the body volume;

providing a dynamic model for temporal variations in one or more anatomic and/or physiologic features in the anatomic model;

using the dynamic model to adjust the provided preliminary acquisition protocol to compensate for the temporal variations in said one or more features during dynamic medical image acquisition of the body volume.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the reconstructed image of the body volume is provided by acquiring a scout scan of the body volume of the patient and reconstructing an image.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the reconstructed image of the body volume is provided by retrieving a previously stored reconstructed image of the body volume of the patient.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising presenting the adjusted acquisition protocol to an operator for approval and/or further adjustment.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising performing further adjustments to the adjusted acquisition protocol during the dynamic imaging sequence based on feedback from analysis of previous images in the sequence.

6. The method according to any of the preceding claim 1, further comprising storing images from the acquired dynamic imaging sequence in a repository for later retrieval as initially provided reconstructed image for fitting of the anatomical model.

7. A computer program product for adjusting a preliminary acquisition protocol for dynamic medical imaging of a body volume of a patient, the product comprising software applications which, based on data representing:

a reconstructed image of the body volume of the patient,

an anatomic model of the body volume, and

a dynamic model for temporal variations in one or more features in the anatomic model,

provides the following when executed by a processor;

fitting the anatomical model to the body volume using the reconstructed image; and

using the dynamic model to adjust the provided preliminary acquisition protocol to compensate for the temporal variations in said one or more features during dynamic medical image acquisition of the body volume.

8. A computer program product for updating a medical imaging apparatus to apply dynamic models in adjusting a preliminary acquisition protocol for dynamic medical imaging of a body volume of a patient, the product comprising means for installing software applications which, based on data representing a dynamic model for temporal variations in one or more features in an anatomic model,

provides the following when executed by a processor:

using the dynamic model to adjust the provided preliminary acquisition protocol to compensate for the temporal variations in said one or more features during dynamic medical image acquisition of the body volume.

9. A medical imaging apparatus comprising a unit for adjusting an acquisition protocol for a dynamic imaging sequence, the apparatus further comprising:

instructions for performing a scout scan of a body volume to be imaged;

a preliminary acquisition protocol for dynamic medical imaging of the body volume;

wherein the unit has access to data representing an anatomic model of the body volume and to a data representing a dynamic model for temporal variations in one or more features in the anatomic model, and wherein the unit comprises;

means for fitting the anatomic model to the body volume based on reconstructed image data from the scout scan;

means for, on the basis of the anatomic and dynamic models, adjusting the preliminary acquisition protocol to compensate for the temporal variations in said one or more features during dynamic medical image acquisition of the body volume.

10. The apparatus according to claim 9, further comprising a repository for holding acquisition protocols and means for retrieving the preliminary acquisition protocol from the repository and for storing an adjusted acquisition protocol for a patient in the repository.