Method and Apparatus For Generating Multiple Studies

• US 20080234571A1
• Filed: 07/27/2006
• Published: 09/25/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/03/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Gotman, Shlomo, Hay, Ori
• Granted Patent: US 8,548,122 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/425
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/032 Transmission computed tomography [CT]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/0487 Motor-assisted positioning
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/08 Auxiliary means for directing the radiation beam to a particular spot, e.g. using light beams
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/5235 combining images from the same or different ionising radiation imaging techniques, e.g. PET and CT
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/542 involving control of exposure
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/20 for electronic clinical trials or questionnaires
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 30/20 for handling medical images, e.g. DICOM, HL7 or PACS

Abstract

Information indicative of multiple regions of the anatomy of a patient (602, 604, 606), such as one or more of the head, neck, chest, abdomen, or pelvis, is obtained in a single scan. A plurality of studies (32) are generated. Each study definition includes a region of the patient'"'"'s anatomy (602, 604) and a study protocol. Each study (32) includes (48) images generated using information from the scan and the value of the imaging parameter.

Claims

1. A method of generating at least first and second studies using information from an imaging scan of a patient'"'"'s anatomy, the method comprising:

defining a first study, the first study definition including a first region of the patient'"'"'s anatomy and a first study protocol;

defining a second study, the second study definition including a second region of the patient'"'"'s anatomy and a second study protocol;

using the first study protocol and information from the imaging scan to generate the first study, wherein the first study includes images indicative of the interior of the anatomy of the patient in the first region;

using the second study protocol and information from the imaging scan to generate the second study, wherein the second study includes images indicative of the interior of the anatomy of the patient in the second region;

storing the first and second studies in a computer readable storage medium.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising

defining a third study, the third study definition including a third region of the patient'"'"'s anatomy and a third study protocol;

using the third study protocol and information from the imaging scan to generate the third study, wherein the third study includes images indicative of the interior of the anatomy of the patient in the third region;

storing the third study in the computer readable storage medium.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising using information from the imaging scan to define the first and second regions.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising using information from the imaging scan to generate volumetric data indicative of the patient'"'"'s anatomy and wherein the step of using information from the imaging scan to define the first and second regions includes classifying the volumetric data into a plurality of categories, using morphological knowledge of the patient'"'"'s anatomy, and evaluating the cross sectional area of the patient'"'"'s anatomy.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein the first study protocol includes a first reconstruction protocol and the second study protocol includes a second reconstruction protocol.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the first study protocol includes a first display protocol and the second study protocol includes a second display protocol.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the first and second regions are axial regions and wherein the method further comprises using information from a localizer scan to define the first and second axial regions.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the localizer scan is a surview scan.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the localizer scan is a volumetric scan.

10. The method of claim 7 wherein using information from the localizer scan to define the regions includes locating the patient'"'"'s lungs, pelvis bone, and diaphragm.

11. The method of claim 7 wherein the first and second studies each include an overview image of the first and second regions and an identifier which uniquely identifies the study, and wherein the first and second regions are indicated on the overview image.

12. The method of claim 7 wherein the first study protocol includes a first reconstruction protocol and the second study protocol includes a second reconstruction protocol.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the first and second regions overlap.

14. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving a request for a first study of a first requested region of the patient'"'"'s anatomy and a request for a second study of a second requested region of the patient'"'"'s anatomy;

defining an extent of the imaging scan, wherein the extent includes the first and second requested regions of the patient'"'"'s anatomy.

15. The method of claim 1 further comprising notifying a computer information system that the first and second studies have been generated.

26. The method of claim 15 wherein the step of analyzing includes analyzing information from a scan of at least first, second, and third regions of the anatomy of a patient to determine a location of the first, second and third regions in the scan information, and wherein the method further includes using a third study protocol and information from the scan to generate an image indicative of the interior anatomy of the patient in the third region.

16. An imaging method comprising:

analyzing information from a scan of at least first and second regions of the anatomy of a patient to determine a location of the first and second regions in the scan information;

using a first study protocol and information from the scan to generate an image indicative of the interior anatomy of the patient in the first region;

using a second study protocol and information from the scan to generate an image indicative of the interior anatomy of the patient in the second region;

storing the images in a computer readable storage medium.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising:

receiving a request for a first study of the first region and a request for a second study of the second region;

obtaining a scan of at least the first and second regions.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the requests are received from a computer information system.

19. The method of claim 16 wherein the step of storing includes storing the images as separate studies.

20. The method of claim 19 further including reporting to a computer information system that the first and second studies have been generated.

21. The method of claim 16 wherein the step of using a first study protocol includes using a first reconstruction protocol and the step of using a second study protocol includes using a second reconstruction protocol.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein the first and second reconstruction protocols each include at least one of matrix size and field of view.

23. The method of claim 16 wherein the step of using a first study protocol includes using a first display protocol and the step of using a second study protocol includes using a second display protocol.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein the display protocols each define at least one of axial, coronal, and saggital images.

25. The method of claim 16 wherein the scan is a computed tomography scan and the step of analyzing includes analyzing image data.

27. An imaging method comprising:

obtaining a first scan which provides information indicative of the interior anatomy of a patient, including information indicative of at least first and second regions of the patient'"'"'s anatomy;

using information from the first scan to determine a location of the first and second regions;

obtaining a second scan which provides information indicative of the interior anatomy of a patient in at least the first and second regions;

using a first study protocol and information from the second scan to generate at least a first image indicative of the interior anatomy of the patient in the first region;

using a second study protocol and information from the second scan to generate at least a first image indicative of the interior anatomy of the patient in the second region;

storing the images in a computer readable storage medium.

28. The method of claim 27 wherein the first scan provides volumetric information indicative of the interior anatomy of the patient.

29. The method of claim 28 wherein the first scan is a relatively low dose helical computed tomography scan.

30. The method of claim 27 wherein the step of using a first study protocol includes using a first scan protocol and the step of using a second study protocol includes using a second scan protocol.

31. The method of claim 27 wherein second scan is a computed tomography scan and the first and second scan protocols each include x-ray tube voltage and current.

32. The method of claim 27 wherein the step of using a first study protocol includes using a first reconstruction protocol and the step of using a second study protocol includes using a second reconstruction protocol.

33. The method of claim 27 wherein the step of using information from the first scan includes classifying the information into a plurality of categories indicative of a characteristic of the patient'"'"'s interior anatomy, using morphological knowledge of the patient'"'"'s anatomy, and evaluating the cross sectional area of the patient'"'"'s anatomy.

34. The method of claim 27 wherein the information indicative of the interior anatomy of the patient includes information indicative of a third region of the patient'"'"'s anatomy, wherein the second scan provides information indicative of the interior anatomy of the patient in the third region, and wherein the method further includes

using information from the first scan to determine a location of the third region;

using a third study protocol and information from the second scan to generate at least a first image indicative of the interior anatomy of the patient in the third region.

35. A an apparatus for generating at least first and second studies using information from an imaging scan, the apparatus comprising:

means for defining a first study, the first study definition including a first region of the patient'"'"'s anatomy and a first study protocol;

means for defining a second study, the second study definition including a second region of the patient'"'"'s anatomy and a second study protocol;

means for generating the first and second studies, wherein the first and second studies each include images indicative of the interior anatomy of the patient in the corresponding region, and wherein the images are generated using information from the imaging scan and using the corresponding study protocol;

a computer readable storage medium for storing the studies.

36. The apparatus of claim 35 wherein the first and second regions are axial regions.