Motion compensated image-guided focused ultrasound therapy system

• US 8,548,561 B2
• Filed: 07/23/2012
• Issued: 10/01/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/01/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: InSightec Ltd.
• Original Assignee: InSightec Ltd.
• Inventors: Vortman, Jacob, Medan, Yoav, Levy, Yoav, Assif, Benny
• Primary Examiner(s): Jung, Unsu
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lamprecht, Joel
• Application Number:
  US13/555,338
• Publication Number:
  US 20130030283A1
• Time in Patent Office: 435 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 600/407
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/00084 Temperature
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/00694 with means correcting for movement of or for synchronisation with the body
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/363 Use of fiducial points
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/374 NMR or MRI
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 34/20 Surgical navigation systems; Devices for tracking or guiding surgical instruments, e.g. for frameless stereotaxis
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/015 By temperature mapping of body part
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/055 involving electronic [EMR] or nuclear [NMR] magnetic resonance, e.g. magnetic resonance imaging
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/416 the spleen
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7207 of noise induced by motion artifacts
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/0841 for locating instruments
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/4245 involving determining the position of the probe, e.g. with respect to an external reference frame or to the patient
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/5276 due to motion
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 7/02 Localised ultrasound hyperthermia hyperthermia in general A61F7/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/4804 Spatially selective measurement of temperature or pH
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/4814 MR combined with ultrasound

Abstract

An image-guide therapy system comprises a thermal treatment device (e.g., an ultrasound transducer) configured for transmitting a therapeutic energy beam, and The system further comprises an imaging device (e.g., a magnetic resonant imaging (MRI) device) configured for acquiring images of the target tissue mass and the thermal treatment device. The system further comprises a controller configured for controlling thermal dose properties of the thermal treatment device to focus the energy beam on a target tissue mass located in an internal body region of a patient, and a processor configured for tracking respective positions of the thermal treatment device and the target tissue mass in a common coordinate system based on the acquired images. The system may optionally comprise a display configured for displaying the acquired images.

Claims

1. An image-guided therapy system for applying thermal treatment to a target tissue mass notwithstanding motion of the target tissue mass, the system comprising:

a thermal treatment device configured for transmitting a therapeutic energy beam;

an imaging device configured for acquiring images of a scanning window around the target tissue mass;

a processor configured for tracking relative movement between a focal zone of the energy beam and the target tissue mass in a common coordinate system based on the acquired images; and

a controller configured for controlling the thermal treatment device to focus the energy beam on the target tissue mass, the controller being responsive to the processor so as to automatically maintain the focus of the energy beam on the target tissue mass notwithstanding the motion,

wherein the imaging device is responsive to the processor so as to adjust a location of the scanning window to correspond with a position of the target tissue mass notwithstanding the motion.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured for tracking the relative movement between the focal zone and the target tissue mass directly from the images.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured for tracking the relative movement between the focal zone and the target tissue mass indirectly, based on a direct correlation between a location of the focal zone and a location of the thermal treatment device, by tracking respective locations of the thermal treatment device and the target tissue mass in a common coordinate system based on the images.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the processor is configured for tracking the position of the thermal treatment device using a first technique and tracking the position of the target tissue mass using a second technique different from the first.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the first technique comprises one of template matching between the images and a pre-defined scalable graphical template of the treatment device or localizing the thermal treatment device based on a localization element placed thereon, and the second technique comprises image correlation between the images and reference images of the target tissue mass.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising a planner configured for automatically constructing, based on the images, a treatment plan comprising a series of treatment sites having associated thermal dose properties.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein construction of the treatment plan is further based on user input.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the user input comprises at least one user-specified parameter selected from the group consisting of a thermal dose threshold, a maximum allowed energy for each thermal dose, a thermal dose duration for each treatment site, a cooling time between applications of the thermal doses, or a grid density of the treatment sites.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the user input comprises at least one user-specified physical parameter of the thermal treatment device.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the user input comprises at least one user-specified parameter related to at least one of an anatomy or an anatomy constraint.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the user input comprises a specification of a clinical application having at least one default parameter associated therewith.

12. The system of claim 7, wherein the user input comprises, defined in the image, at least one tissue boundary.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the at least one tissue boundary comprises at least one of a boundary around a target tissue, an obstacle boundary around reflective tissue, or a boundary around tissue sensitive to thermal exposure.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the at least one tissue boundary is defined three-dimensionally.

15. The system of claim 7, wherein the planner is configured for updating the treatment plan following treatment of any of the treatment sites, taking into account treated regions and untreated regions.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the planner is responsive to the processor and configured, when updating the treatment plan, to further take into account the relative movement.

17. An image-guided therapy method for applying thermal treatment to a target tissue mass notwithstanding motion of the target tissue mass, the system comprising:

focusing a therapeutic energy beam from a thermal treatment device on the target tissue mass;

acquiring images of a scanning window around the target tissue mass;

tracking relative movement between a focal zone of the energy beam and the target tissue mass in a common coordinate system based on the acquired images;

controlling the thermal treatment device so as to automatically maintain the focus of the energy beam on the target tissue mass notwithstanding the motion; and

adjusting a location of the scanning window to correspond with a position of the target tissue mass notwithstanding the motion.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the relative movement between the focal zone and the target tissue mass is tracked directly from the images.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the relative movement between the focal zone and the target tissue mass is tracked indirectly, based on a direct correlation between a location of the focal zone and a location of the thermal treatment device, from tracked respective locations of the thermal treatment device and the target tissue mass in a common coordinate system based on the images.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the position of the thermal treatment device is tracked using at least one of template matching between the images and a pre-defined scalable graphical template of the treatment device or localizing the thermal treatment device based on a localization element placed thereon, and the position of the target tissue mass is tracked using image correlation between the images and reference images of the target tissue mass.

21. The method of claim 17, further comprising automatically constructing, based on the images, a treatment plan comprising a series of treatment sites having associated thermal dose properties.