System and method for position matching of a patient for medical imaging

• US 7,986,227 B2
• Filed: 09/20/2007
• Issued: 07/26/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/20/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cornell Research Foundation Incorporated (Cornell University)
• Original Assignee: Cornell Research Foundation Incorporated (Cornell University)
• Inventors: Yankelevitz, David F., Henschke, Claudia Ingrid
• Primary Examiner(s): Swarthout; Brent
• Application Number:
  US11/858,855
• Publication Number:
  US 20090079576A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,405 Days
• Field of Search: 34053912-53929, 340/572.1, 128/899, 128/903, 607/901, 600423-437, 600/12, 600/407, 600/447
• US Class Current: 340/539.12
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/3958 emitting a signal
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/397 electromagnetic other than visible, e.g. microwave
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/00 Apparatus or devices for radiation diagnosis; Apparatus or devices for radiation diagnosis combined with radiation therapy equipment instruments measuring radiation intensity for application in the field of nuclear medicine, e.g. in vivo counting, G01T1/161; apparatus for taking X-ray photographs G03B42/02
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/037 Emission tomography
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/0492 using markers or indicia for aiding patient positioning
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/527 using data from a motion artifact sensor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/5288 involving retrospective matching to a physiological signal
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/541 involving acquisition triggered by a physiological signal
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 2005/1051 using an active marker markers in general A61B90/39
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 5/1049 for verifying the position of the patient with respect to the radiation beam
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 5/1064 for adjusting radiation treatment in response to monitoring

Abstract

A system for position matching of a patient for medical imaging includes a set of RFID tags configured to locate a patient position. A set of RFID interrogators are located to receive RFID position information from the set of RFID tags. A medical imaging system is positioned to produce a medical image of the patient, where the medical imaging system includes a computer. A patient position calculator receives the RFID position information and calculates a patient position for transmission to the computer.

Claims

1. A radiation therapy process comprising:

attaching at least one RFID tag to a target area;

interrogating the at least one RFID with a set of interrogators positioned to triangulate the location of the at least one RFID tag by transmitting and receiving signals to and from, at least one RFID tag to produce positioning data;

calculating a position of the at least one RFID tag by triangulating the positioning data;

recording the calculated position; and

applying radiation focused on the calculated position;

wherein applying radiation includes gating the radiation to patient respiration cycles by placing a set of gating RFID tags in an area affected by respiration, where the set of gating RFID tags is monitored through continuously being interrogated to acquire position data, and where upon acquiring the RFID position data a chest position is calculated using the RFID position data.

2. The process of claim 1 where the target area includes a target selected from the group consisting of a tumor, a lesion, an abnormality, and a cancer site.

3. The process of claim 1 where attaching the at least one RFID tag comprises attaching the at least one RFID tag with a needle.

4. The process of claim 1 where attaching the at least one RFID tag comprises attaching the at least one RFID tag laparoscopically.

5. The process of claim 1 where attaching the at least one RFID tag comprises attaching the at least one RFID tag using at least one of glue, a staple, and an expanding wire.

6. The process of claim 1 further comprising monitoring the at least one RFID tag for movement.

7. The process of claim 1 further comprising determining whether the at least one RFID is in a target zone;

and

if the at least one RFID is in the target zone, then applying radiation focused on the target zone.