MEDICAL APPARATUS INSTALLATION, AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING A MEDICAL APPARATUS

• US 20120310079A1
• Filed: 06/01/2012
• Published: 12/06/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/01/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Siemens Healthcare GMBH (Siemens AG)
• Original Assignee: Siemens AG
• Inventors: Henning, Andre
• Granted Patent: US 8,798,714 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/411
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0247 Pressure sensors
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/046 in a matrix array
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0205 Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular conditions and different types of body conditions, e.g. heart and respiratory condition
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1102 Ballistocardiography
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1135 by monitoring thoracic expansion
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/503 for diagnosis of the heart
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/5264 due to motion
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/5288 involving retrospective matching to a physiological signal
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 5/1068 Gating the beam as a function of a physiological signal

Abstract

In a medical apparatus and method, the apparatus installation has a placement device for a patient, into which placement device is integrated at least one electromechanical sensor. A signal evaluation device is supplied with the measurement signals generated with the at least one electromechanical sensor, for evaluation. The medical apparatus is connected with the signal evaluation device, and the medical apparatus acquires measurement signals that relate to breathing and/or cardiac activity of the patient with the at least one electromechanical sensor upon support of the patient on said placement device. Trigger signals are generated with the signal evaluation device based on the measurement signals which relate to breathing cycle and/or cardiac cycle of the patient. The operation of the medical apparatus is controlled based on the trigger signals.

Claims

1. A method to control a medical apparatus in an installation that also comprises a patient placement device configured to receive a patient thereon, said patient placement device comprising at least one electromechanical sensor integrated therein, and said installation further comprising a signal evaluation device to which measurement signals generated by said at least one electromechanical sensor are supplied, and said medical apparatus being in communication with said signal evaluation device, said method comprising:

upon placement of a patient on said patient placement device, acquiring measurement signals, relating to at least one physiological activity of the patient selected from the group consisting of breathing activity and cardiac activity, with said at least one electromechanical sensor;

in said signal evaluation device supplied with said measurement signals, generating trigger signals based on said measurement signals; and

from said signal evaluation device, controlling operation of said medical apparatus based on said trigger signals.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein said patient placement device comprises a plurality of electromechanical sensors integrated therein in a two-dimensional matrix, and wherein said method comprises supplying respective measurement signals from said plurality of electromechanical sensors to said signal evaluation device.

3. A method as claimed in claim 2 comprising supplying said respective signals to said signal evaluation device by multiplexing said respective measurement signals.

4. A method as claimed in claim 3 comprising, in said signal evaluation device, evaluating said respective measurement signals using at least one analysis selected from the group consisting of Fourier analysis and a wavelet analysis, to obtain an analysis result, and generating said trigger signals from said analysis result.

5. A method as claimed in claim 3 comprising, in said signal evaluation device, evaluating the respective measurement signals to identify a position of the heart of the patient with respect to said patient placement device.

6. A method as claimed in claim 5 comprising determining the position of the heart of the patient with respect to the patient placement device by implementing a cross-correlation analysis of respective measurement signals that respectively originate from electromechanical sensors that are adjacent to each other in said array.

7. A method as claimed in claim 1 comprising evaluating said measurement signal in said signal evaluation device by at least one analysis selected from the group consisting of Fourier analysis and a wavelet analysis, to obtain an analysis result, and generating said trigger signals from said analysis result.

8. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein said medical apparatus is a medical imaging apparatus and comprising acquiring image information from the patient on said patient placement device at a time trigger by said trigger signals.

9. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein said medical apparatus is a radiation therapy apparatus configured to implement radiation treatment of tissue of the patient on said patient placement device, and comprising triggering emission of radiation in said radiation treatment dependent on said trigger signals.

10. A medical installation comprising:

a patient placement device configured to receive a patient thereon;

a medical apparatus configured to interact with the patient on the patient placement device in order to implement at least one of examination or a therapy;

at least one electromechanical sensor integrated in said patient placement device and configured to generate a measurement signal by interaction with the patient on the patient placement device, said measurement signal being related to a physiological activity of the patient selected from the group consisting of breathing activity and cardiac activity;

a signal evaluation device in communication with said at least one electromechanical sensor to receive said measurement signal from said at least one electromechanical sensor;

said signal evaluation device being configured to evaluate said at least one measurement signal to obtain an evaluation result, and to generate trigger signals from said measurement result; and

said signal evaluation device also being in communication with said medical apparatus and being configured to operate said medical apparatus to implement said examination or said therapy dependent on said trigger signals.

11. A medical installation as claimed in claim 10 wherein said patient placement device has a plurality of electromechanical sensors integrated therein in a two-dimensional matrix.

12. A medical installation as claimed in claim 10 wherein said at least one electromechanical sensor is a sensor selected from the group consisting of piezoelectric sensors and electromechanical film sensors.

13. A medical installation as claimed in claim 10 wherein said patient placement device is a patient support plate of a patient'"'"'s support table.

14. A medical installation as claimed in claim 10 wherein said patient placement device is a placement mat configured to be arranged on a patient support plate of a patient support table.

15. A medical installation as claimed in claim 10 comprising a plurality of electromechanical sensors integrated in said patient placement device, and wherein said signal evaluation device comprises a processor configured to evaluate said measurement signals, and a multiplexer that supplies respective measurement signals from the plurality of electromechanical sensors to said processor by multiplexing.

16. A medical installation as claimed in claim 10 wherein said medical apparatus is an apparatus selected from the group consisting of a computed tomography apparatus, a C-arm x-ray apparatus, a PET apparatus, a SPECT apparatus, a magnetic resonance apparatus, and a radiation therapy apparatus.

17. A non-transitory, computer-readable data storage medium encoded with programming instructions, said data storage medium being loaded into a computerized signal evaluation device of a medical installation, said medical installation also comprising a patient placement device configured to receive a patient thereon and having at least one electromechanical sensor integrated therein that generates a measurement signal relating to at least one of breathing activity and cardiac activity of the patient on the patient placement device, and a medical apparatus configured to implement at least one of an examination of or administration of a therapy to the patient on the patient positioning device, said programming instructions causing said signal evaluation device to:

communicate with said at least one electromechanical sensor to acquire measurement signals, relating to at least one physiological activity of the patient selected from the group consisting of breathing activity and cardiac activity, with said at least one electromechanical sensor;

generate trigger signals based on said measurement signals; and

from said signal evaluation device, controlling operation of said medical apparatus based on said trigger signals.