Patient tracking using a virtual image

• US 8,406,851 B2
• Filed: 08/11/2005
• Issued: 03/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/11/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Accuray Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Accuray Incorporated
• Inventors: West, Jay B., Fu, Dongshan
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Long V.
• Assistant Examiner(s): LARYEA, LAWRENCE N
• Application Number:
  US11/202,842
• Publication Number:
  US 20070038058A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,784 Days
• Field of Search: 600/437, 600/439, 600/407, 600/417, 600/438, 600/461, 600/463, 600/464, 600/485, 382/128, 382/154, 382/294
• US Class Current: 600/411
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/364 Correlation of different images or relation of image positions in respect to the body
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/584 determining position of components of the apparatus or device using images of the phantom
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 90/36 Image-producing devices or illumination devices not otherwise provided for
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 2005/1058 using ultrasound imaging
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 2005/1061 using an x-ray imaging system having a separate imaging source
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 5/1049 for verifying the position of the patient with respect to the radiation beam
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 5/1065 Beam adjustment

Abstract

An apparatus and method of tracking a patient using a virtual image.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

obtaining a first image using a first imaging modality and a second image using a second imaging modality, wherein the first and second imaging modalities are of different types;

registering a first image atlas of the first imaging modality with a second image atlas of the second imaging modality to generate an atlas registration result; and

registering, by a processing device, the first image with the second image using the atlas registration result.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the first and second imaging modalities include a pre-operative imaging modality and an intra-operative imaging modality.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein one of the first and second images is an ultrasound (US) image, and the other one of the first and second images is a computed tomography (CT) image.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein one of the first and second images is a magnetic resonance (MR) image.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein one of the first and second images is a positron emission tomography (PET) image.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein each of the first and second images is a three-dimensional (3D) image.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising tracking a patient based on registering the first image with the second image.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the first image atlas and the second image atlas comprises a pre-existing image of an arbitrary patient having substantially normal anatomy in terms of relative position and shape of structure.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the first image atlas and the second image atlas comprises an averaged image of multiple arbitrary patients.

10. An apparatus, comprising:

an imaging system to provide a first image using a first imaging modality; and

a patient tracking module comprising processing logic to registering a first image atlas of the first imaging modality with a second image atlas of a second imaging modality to generate an atlas registration result, the processing logic further to register the first image with a second image, obtained using a second imaging modality, using the atlas registration result, wherein the first and second imaging modalities are of different types.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the first and second imaging modalities include a pre-operative imaging modality and an intra-operative imaging modality.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein one of the first and second images is an ultrasound (US) image, and the other one of the first and second images is a computed tomography (CT) image.

13. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the patient tracking module is to track a patient based on registering the first image with the second image.

14. A non-transitory machine-readable medium containing instructions which, when executed by a processing device, cause the processing device to perform operations comprising:

obtaining a first image using a first imaging modality and a second image using a second imaging modality, wherein the first and second imaging modalities are of different types;

registering a first image atlas of the first imaging modality with a second image atlas of the second imaging modality to generate an atlas registration result; and

registering, by the processing device, the first image with the second image using the atlas registration result.

15. The machine-readable medium of claim 14 wherein the first and second imaging modalities comprise a pre-operative imaging modality and an intra-operative imaging modality.

16. The machine-readable medium of claim 14 wherein one of the first and second images is an ultrasound (US) image, and the other one of the first and second images is a computed tomography (CT) image.