Apparatus for matching X-ray images with reference images
DCFirst Claim
1. Apparatus for automatically matching a portal image with a simulation image, said apparatus comprising:
- means digitizing said portal image and simulation image to generate digital portal image signals (DPIS) and digital simulation image signals (DSIS), respectively;
processing means processing said DPIS and said DSIS to generate matched DPIS and DSIS; and
output means for generating an output from said matched DPIS and DSIS.
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Abstract
X-ray images such as radiotherapy portal images and simulation images are matched by apparatus which digitizes the images and automatically processes the digitized signals to generate matched digitized signals which can be displayed for comparison. The digitized images are first coarse aligned using a transform generated from seed points selected interactively from the two images or through detection and identification of x-ray opaque fiducials placed on the patient. A fine alignment is then performed by first selecting intersecting regions of the two images and enhancing those regions. Secondly, an updated transform is generated using robust motion flow in these regions at successive ascending levels of resolution. The updated transform is then used to align the images which are displayed for comparison. The updated transform can also be used to control the radiotherapy equipment.
164 Citations
28 Claims
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1. Apparatus for automatically matching a portal image with a simulation image, said apparatus comprising:
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means digitizing said portal image and simulation image to generate digital portal image signals (DPIS) and digital simulation image signals (DSIS), respectively; processing means processing said DPIS and said DSIS to generate matched DPIS and DSIS; and output means for generating an output from said matched DPIS and DSIS. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. Apparatus for matching portal images to control radiotherapy/diagnosis equipment, said apparatus comprising:
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means digitizing successive portal images to generate successive sets of digital portal image signals (DPIS); and tracking means tracking movement between successive sets of DPIS. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. Apparatus for automatically matching an x-ray image with a reference image, said apparatus comprising:
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means digitizing said x-ray image and reference image to generate first digital image signals and second digital image signals, respectively; processing means processing said first and second digital signals without input of any physical dimensions of any features within said images to generate matched digital image signals; and display means generating a display from said matched digital image signals. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28)
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Specification