Brachytherapy apparatus and methods
First Claim
1. An apparatus for use with a human body for brachytherapy comprising:
- an injection device having a hollow injection needle with an opening at a tip and seed-depositing means for having a radioactive seed pushed therethrough to be deposited in a patient'"'"'s body through said opening proximal to said tip;
seed-position detecting means determining a position, with reference to a space-fixed coordinate system, of a seed deposited in the patient'"'"'s body by said injection device;
real-time seed-position determining means determining a position of said deposited seed in real time with reference to a body-fixed coordinate system which is affixed to said patient'"'"'s body, and dose calculating means calculating in real time a radiation dose distribution within a selected volume specified with respect to said body-fixed coordinate system due to seeds which have been deposited by said injection device.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Brachytherapy is carried out with a needle to inject a radioactive seed into a patient'"'"'s body. A space-fixed detector detects radiation from radiation emitters to determine the position of a deposited seed from the needle with reference to a space-fixed coordinate system. Markers may be affixed to the patient'"'"'s body such that a body-fixed coordinate system can be determined in real time by an imaging device. Alternatively, earlier obtained patient'"'"'s anatomical data may be referenced. After positions of earlier injected seeds are thus ascertained in real time in the body-fixed coordinate system, the stored anatomical data may be updated and a radiation dose distribution can be calculated from the determined seed positions. The calculated radiation dose distribution can be displayed and compared with a planned distribution.
35 Citations
54 Claims
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1. An apparatus for use with a human body for brachytherapy comprising:
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an injection device having a hollow injection needle with an opening at a tip and seed-depositing means for having a radioactive seed pushed therethrough to be deposited in a patient'"'"'s body through said opening proximal to said tip;
seed-position detecting means determining a position, with reference to a space-fixed coordinate system, of a seed deposited in the patient'"'"'s body by said injection device;
real-time seed-position determining means determining a position of said deposited seed in real time with reference to a body-fixed coordinate system which is affixed to said patient'"'"'s body, and dose calculating means calculating in real time a radiation dose distribution within a selected volume specified with respect to said body-fixed coordinate system due to seeds which have been deposited by said injection device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. An apparatus for use with a human body for brachytherapy comprising:
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an injection device having a hollow injection needle with an opening at a tip and seed-depositing means for having a radioactive seed pushed therethrough to be deposited in a patient'"'"'s body through said opening proximal to said tip;
seed-position detecting means determining a position, with reference to a space-fixed coordinate system, of a seed deposited in the patient'"'"'s body by said injection device;
real-time seed-position determining means determining a position of said deposited seed in real time with reference to a body-fixed coordinate system which is affixed to said patient'"'"'s body; and
dose calculating means calculating in real time a radiation dose distribution within a selected volume specified with respect to said body-fixed coordinate system due to seeds which have been deposited by said injection device;
wherein said seed-position detecting means include;
energy transmitting means attached to said injection device for causing energy to be transmitted therefrom;
a detector at a fixed position with respect to said space-fixed coordinate system for receiving said energy propagated from said energy propagating means; and
means for determining position and orientation of said injection device based on the energy propagated from said energy propagating means and received by said detector and thereby determining position of said deposited seed from the position of said opening at said tip of said injection needle.
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8. An apparatus for use with a human body for brachytherapy comprising:
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an injection device having a hollow injection needle with an opening at a tip and seed-depositing means for having a radioactive seed pushed therethrough to be deposited in a patient'"'"'s body through said opening proximal to said tip;
seed-position detecting means determining a position, with reference to a space-fixed coordinate system, of a seed deposited in the patient'"'"'s body by said injection device;
real-time seed-position determining means determining a position of said deposited seed in real time with reference to a body-fixed coordinate system which is affixed to said patient'"'"'s body; and
dose calculating means calculating in real time a radiation dose distribution within a selected volume specified with respect to said body-fixed coordinate system due to seeds which have been deposited by said injection device;
wherein said real-time seed-position determining means include;
markers affixed to selected parts of said body for defining said body-fixed coordinate system;
reference point detecting means for detecting in real time reference point position data with respect to said space-fixed coordinate system on positions of at least portions of said markers; and
reference means determining a position of said deposited seed with reference to said body-fixed coordinate system from the position of said seed determined by said seed-position detecting means and the reference point position data detected by said reference point detecting means. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11)
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12. An apparatus for use with a human body for brachytherapy comprising:
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an injection device having a hollow injection needle with an opening at a tip and seed-depositing means for having a radioactive seed pushed therethrough to be deposited in a patient'"'"'s body through said opening proximal to said tip;
seed-position detecting means determining a position, with reference to a space-fixed coordinate system, of a seed deposited in the patient'"'"'s body by said injection device;
real-time seed-position determining means determining a position of said deposited seed in real time with reference to a body-fixed coordinate system which is affixed to said patient'"'"'s body;
dose calculating means calculating in real time a radiation dose distribution within a selected volume specified with respect to said body-fixed coordinate system due to seeds which have been deposited by said injection device; and
display means providing in real time a visual display of earlier obtained patient'"'"'s anatomical data and the positions of deposited seeds;
wherein said real-time position determining means includes;
memory means for storing said earlier obtained patient'"'"'s anatomical data; and
coordinate-transforming means for identifying said body-fixed coordinate system with reference to said earlier obtained patient'"'"'s anatomical data and determining position of said deposited seed with reference to said body-fixed coordinate system from the position of said seed with respect to said space-fixed coordinate system determined by said seed-position detecting means.
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13. A method in brachytherapy comprising the steps of:
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depositing a radioactive seed in a patient'"'"'s body through an opening at a needle tip of an injection device;
determining space-position of said deposited seed with reference to a space-fixed coordinate system;
determining body-position of said deposited seed in real time with reference to a body-fixed coordinate system which is affixed to said patient'"'"'s body; and
calculating in real time a radiation dose distribution within a selected volume specified with respect to said body-fixed coordinate system due to seeds which have been deposited by said injection device. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A method in brachytherapy comprising the steps of:
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depositing a radioactive seed in a patient'"'"'s body through an opening at a needle tip of an injection device;
determining space-position of said deposited seed with reference to a space-fixed coordinate system;
determining body-position of said deposited seed in real time with reference to a body-fixed coordinate system which is affixed to said patient'"'"'s body, and calculating in real time a radiation dose distribution within a selected volume specified with respect to said body-fixed coordinate system due to seeds which have been deposited by said injection device;
wherein the step of determining space-position of said deposited seed includes the steps of;
causing energy to be propagated from fixed positions on said injection device;
detecting said propagated energy by a detector at a fixed position with respect to said space-fixed coordinate system; and
assuming that said deposited seed is located where said opening at said needle tip of said injection device was when said seed was deposited.
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24. An apparatus for brachytherapy, comprising:
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a seed delivery device comprising a position-indicating unit;
a position detector configured to sense said position-indicating unit; and
a computer coupled to said position detector, said computer configured to determine a position of a seed within a patient body with reference to a space-fixed coordinate system based on a position of said position-indicating unit, and a radiation dose distribution relative to a body-fixed coordinate system based at least on said position of said seed. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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33. A method in brachytherapy, comprising:
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placing a radioactive seed in a patient'"'"'s body via a delivery device;
determining a position of said seed with reference to a space-fixed coordinate system;
determining a body-fixed coordinate system based on markers within said patient'"'"'s body; and
calculating a radiation dose distribution relative to said body-fixed coordinate system due to said seed. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41)
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42. An apparatus for brachytherapy, comprising:
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a seed delivery device comprising a position-indicating unit;
a position detector configured to sense said position-indicating unit;
an imaging system configured to sense markers within a patient body; and
a computer coupled to said position detector and said imaging system, said computer configured to determine a position of a seed with reference to a space-fixed coordinate system based on a position of said position-indicating unit, a body-fixed coordinate system based on positions of said markers, and a radiation dose distribution relative to said body-fixed coordinate system based at least on said position of said seed with reference to said space-fixed coordinate system. - View Dependent Claims (43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52)
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53. An apparatus for brachytherapy, comprising:
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a seed delivery device comprising a position-indicating unit;
a position detector configured to sense said position-indicating unit;
markers within a patient body;
an imaging system configured to sense said markers; and
a computer coupled to said position detector and said imaging system, said computer configured to determine a position of a seed with reference to a space-fixed coordinate system based on a position of said position-indicating unit, a body-fixed coordinate system based on positions of said markers, and a radiation dose distribution relative to said body-fixed coordinate system based at least on said position of said seed with reference to said space-fixed coordinate system.
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54. An apparatus for use with a human body for brachytherapy comprising:
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an injection device having a hollow injection needle with an opening at a tip and seed-depositing means for having a radioactive seed pushed therethrough to be deposited in a patient'"'"'s body through said opening proximal to said tip;
seed-position detecting means determining a position, with reference to a space-fixed coordinate system, of a seed deposited in the patient'"'"'s body by said injection device;
real-time seed-position determining means determining a position of said deposited seed in real time with reference to a body-fixed coordinate system which is affixed to said patient'"'"'s body;
dose calculating means calculating in real time a radiation dose distribution within a selected volume specified with respect to said body-fixed coordinate system due to seeds which have been deposited by said injection device; and
display means providing in real time a visual display of earlier obtained patient'"'"'s anatomical data and the positions of deposited seeds.
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Specification