Systems, devices, and methods including implants for managing cumulative X-ray radiation dosage

• US 20130062528A1
• Filed: 09/08/2011
• Published: 03/14/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/08/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Elwha LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Elwha LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Hyde, Roderick A., Ishikawa, Muriel Y., Leuthardt, Eric C., Smith, Michael A., Sweeney, Elizabeth A., Wood, Lowell L. Jr.
• Granted Patent: US 8,692,206 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 250/370.07
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 5/1038 taking into account previously administered plans applied to the same patient, i.e. adaptive radiotherapy
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 5/1048 Monitoring, verifying, controlling systems and methods
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 5/1071 for verifying the dose delivered by the treatment plan
• CPC Class Codes: G01T 1/02 Dosimeters G01T1/15 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01T 1/161 Applications in the field of nuclear medicine, e.g. in vivo counting apparatus for radiation diagnosis A61B6/00

Abstract

Systems, devices, and methods are described including implantable radiation sensing devices having exposure determination devices that determines cumulative exposure information based on the at least one in vivo measurand.

Claims

1-55. -55. (canceled)

56. An implantable radiation sensing transponder, comprising:

an x-ray radiation sensor device operable to detect a transcutaneously received x-ray radiation stimulus;

an exposure determination device including one or more memory devices having radiation exposure information stored thereon, the exposure determination device configured to

record cumulative exposure information based on the transcutaneously received x-ray radiation stimulus,

compare at least one measurand output from the x-ray radiation sensor device indicative of the x-ray radiation exposure event to the radiation exposure information,

generate user-specific lifetime exposure data based on the comparison, and

report one or more parameters from the user-specific lifetime exposure data when the transcutaneously received x-ray radiation stimulus meets or exceeds a target range; and

an interrogation interface operably coupled to the exposure determination device.

57. The implantable radiation sensing transponder of claim 56, wherein the exposure determination device is configured to provide cumulative exposure information in response to interrogation of the interrogation interface.

58. The implantable radiation sensing transponder of claim 56, wherein the exposure determination device reports cumulative exposure information when the transcutaneously received x-ray radiation stimulus satisfies a threshold criterion.

64. The implantable radiation sensing transponder of claim 56, wherein the x-ray radiation sensor device includes one or more scintillators.

66. The implantable radiation sensing transponder of claim 56, wherein the x-ray radiation sensor device includes one or more scintillator-photodiode pairs.

67. The implantable radiation sensing transponder of claim 56, wherein the x-ray radiation sensor device includes one or more thallium doped cesium iodide scintillators.

68. The implantable radiation sensing transponder of claim 56, wherein the x-ray radiation sensor device includes one or more thermoluminescent dosimeters.

71. The implantable radiation sensing transponder of claim 56, wherein the x-ray radiation sensor device includes one or more phosphorus doped elements.

72. The implantable radiation sensing transponder of claim 56, wherein the x-ray radiation sensor device includes one or more amorphous silicon thin-film transistor arrays.

73. The implantable radiation sensing transponder of claim 56, wherein the x-ray radiation sensor device includes one or more phosphors.

74. The implantable radiation sensing transponder of claim 56, wherein the x-ray radiation sensor device includes one or more x-ray radiation scintillation crystals.

76. The implantable radiation sensing transponder of claim 56, wherein the x-ray radiation sensor device includes one or more photodiode arrays.

78. The implantable radiation sensing transponder of claim 56, wherein the interrogation interface includes at least one bistatic antenna.

79. The implantable radiation sensing transponder of claim 56, wherein the interrogation interface includes a carrier waveform selective interrogation interface.

80. The implantable radiation sensing transponder of claim 56, wherein the interrogation interface includes a frequency selective interrogation interface.

81. The implantable radiation sensing transponder of claim 56, wherein the interrogation interface includes an electromagnetic energy selective interrogation interface.

82. The implantable radiation sensing transponder of claim 56, wherein the interrogation interface is responsive based on at least one of an authorization protocol, an authentication protocol, or an activation protocol.

84. The implantable radiation sensing transponder of claim 56, wherein the exposure determination device and the interrogation interface are operable to emit acoustic energy in the ultrasonic frequency range.

85. The implantable radiation sensing transponder of claim 56, wherein the exposure determination device includes at least one logic device that compares an output from the x-ray radiation sensor device indicative of the transcutaneously received x-ray radiation stimulus to reference x-ray radiation exposure information, and generates cumulative exposure information based on the comparison.

86. The implantable radiation sensing transponder of claim 56, wherein the exposure determination device and the interrogation interface are operable to implement an amplitude modulation communication protocol, a code-division multiple access communication protocol, a direct-sequence ultra-wideband communication protocol, a frequency division multiple access communication protocol, a frequency modulation communication protocol, an orthogonal frequency division multiple access communication protocol, a time division multiple access communication protocol, an ultra-wideband communication protocol, or a hybrid or combination protocol thereof.

89. The implantable radiation sensing transponder of claim 56, wherein the exposure determination device includes one or more computer-readable memory media including executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed on a computing device, instruct the computing device to

retrieve from storage one or more parameters associated with the radiation exposure information,

perform a comparison of output from the x-ray radiation sensor to the one or more parameters associated with the radiation exposure information, and

concurrently or sequentially transmit or receive information associated with the comparison.

59-63. -63. (canceled)

65. (canceled)

69. (canceled)

70. (canceled)

75. (canceled)

77. (canceled)

83. (canceled)

87. (canceled)

88. (canceled)

90. A system, comprising:

an x-ray radiation exposure information generator including one or more sensors that generate x-ray radiation exposure event information associated with at least one in vivo detected x-ray radiation exposure event;

a telematic x-ray radiation exposure reporter including one or more interrogation interfaces configured to transcutaneously transmit one or more parameters associated with the x-ray radiation exposure information; and

a speech recognition module including circuitry that causes the system to change between a transmit state and a receive state responsive to one or more audio inputs.

93. The system of claim 90, wherein the x-ray radiation exposure information generator includes at least one computing device operably coupled to one or more memory devices having reference x-ray radiation exposure information stored thereon, the computing device operable to compare the x-ray radiation exposure event information to the reference x-ray radiation exposure information, and to generate cumulative exposure information based on the comparison.

91. (canceled)

92. (canceled)

94. (canceled)

95. (canceled)

96. A telematic x-ray radiation monitoring method, comprising:

generating, via an indwelling x-ray radiation sensing transponder, x-ray radiation dose information associated with at least one in vivo detected x-ray radiation exposure event, the radiation dose information including at least one of organ-specific average dose data, organ-specific average conversion dose data, organ-specific equivalent conversion dose data, or radiation-type-specific weighting factor data; and

transcutaneously transmitting one or more parameters associated with the x-ray radiation dose information.

97. The telematic x-ray radiation monitoring method of claim 96, further comprising:

initiating at least one of an authorization protocol, an authentication protocol, or an activation protocol prior to transcutaneously transmitting the one or more parameters associated with the x-ray radiation dose information.

98. The telematic x-ray radiation monitoring method of claim 96, further comprising:

storing the one or more parameters associated with the x-ray radiation dose information onto a memory circuit of the indwelling x-ray radiation sensing transponder.

99-158. -158. (canceled)