Image guided radiosurgery method and apparatus using registration of 2D radiographic images with digitally reconstructed radiographs of 3D scan data
Granted: July 13, 2010
Patent Number:
7756567
An image-guided radiosurgery method and system are presented that use 2D/3D image registration to keep the radiosurgical beams properly focused onto a treatment target. A pre-treatment 3D scan of the target is generated at or near treatment planning time. A set of 2D DRRs are generated, based on the pre-treatment 3D scan. At least one 2D x-ray image of the target is generated in near real time during treatment. The DRRs are registered with the x-ray images, by computing a set of 3D…
Lower-torso assembly of a treatment couch useable in an X-ray environment
Granted: June 22, 2010
Patent Number:
7742562
A treatment couch having a tabletop that has a radiolucent region, and a lower-torso assembly that has a first slide member coupled to a slot of the tabletop, a second slide member coupled to a slot of the first slide member, and a link member coupled to the first and second slide members. The lower-torso assembly may be configured to adjust a patient along a longitudinal direction relative to a shoulder line of the tabletop while the lower-torso assembly remains outside the radio lucent…
Target tracking using surface scanner and four-dimensional diagnostic imaging data
Granted: May 18, 2010
Patent Number:
7720196
A method and apparatus for tracking a pathological anatomy within a patient's body is described. A data model of a skin surface of the patient's body may be acquired using light reflected from the skin surface. The data model can be matched with skin surfaces reconstructed and/or interpolated from four-dimensional (4D) diagnostic imaging data, such as 4D CT data, to determine a temporal phase of the patient's respiratory motion. The identified temporal phase may then be used in…
Dynamic tracking of soft tissue targets with ultrasound images, without using fiducial markers
Granted: May 11, 2010
Patent Number:
7713205
An apparatus and method of dynamically tracking a soft tissue target with ultrasound images, without the use of fiducial markers. In one embodiment, the apparatus includes an ultrasound imager to generate a reference ultrasound and a first ultrasound image having a soft tissue target, and a processing device coupled to the ultrasound imager to receive the reference ultrasound image and the first ultrasound image, to register the first ultrasound image with the reference ultrasound image,…
Inverse planning using optimization constraints derived from image intensity
Granted: May 4, 2010
Patent Number:
7711169
A method of automatically identifying a region of differing intensity in a functional image is described.
Treatment delivery optimization
Granted: April 6, 2010
Patent Number:
7693257
A method and apparatus to optimize delivery of radiation treatment.
Rigid body tracking for radiosurgery
Granted: March 23, 2010
Patent Number:
7684647
A method and apparatus compares in-treatment X-ray images of a volume with pre-treatment reference images of the volume and determines a combined similarity measure. A combined registration search space is searched to maximize the combined similarity measure and to jointly register the in-treatment X-ray images with the pre-treatment images.
Unified quality assurance for a radiation treatment delivery system
Granted: February 2, 2010
Patent Number:
7656998
A unified quality assurance technique to verify alignment of a radiation treatment delivery system. In one embodiment, a radiation treatment source is instructed to move to a preset source position. An image of the radiation treatment source at its actual source position is generated and compared against a reference image to determine whether the radiation treatment source correctly achieved the preset source position. In one embodiment, a positioning system is instructed to move a…
Non-collocated imaging and treatment in image-guided radiation treatment systems
Granted: November 24, 2009
Patent Number:
7623623
An image-guided radiation treatment system includes a robotic positioning system and a tracking system that enables a radiation target to be imaged and aligned at one location and treated at another location by transferring positional data from the imaging system to the positioning system and the radiation treatment system.
Temporal smoothing of a deformation model
Granted: November 24, 2009
Patent Number:
7623679
A method and apparatus for approximating a path of movement of a target. The method includes referencing a temporal sequence of images, identifying a plurality of data points associated with a selected volume element of the volume of interest, and calculating an estimated location of the selected volume element based on a cost function having a constraint which favors continuous spatial motion of the selected volume element over time. Each of the images of the temporal sequence of images…
Parallel stereovision geometry in image-guided radiosurgery
Granted: November 17, 2009
Patent Number:
7620144
A method and apparatus in an image-guided radiation treatment system for determining an in-treatment 3-D position of a patient and for registering the 3-D in-treatment position of the patient with a pre-treatment 3-D scan of the patient.
Wizard and template for treatment planning
Granted: November 3, 2009
Patent Number:
7611452
An interface is provided to a user to perform a plurality of treatment planning operations associated with the treatment plan before the treatment plan is optimized. The treatment planning operations include at least one of selecting a treatment planning parameter or inputting data corresponding to the treatment planning parameter. One or more templates containing one or more pre-defined treatment planning parameters are provided to the user to enable the user to skip performing one or…
Integrated quality assurance for an image guided radiation treatment delivery system
Granted: October 20, 2009
Patent Number:
7604405
A method and apparatus for quality assurance of an image guided radiation treatment delivery system. A quality assurance (“QA”) marker is positioned at a preset position under guidance of an imaging guidance system of a radiation treatment delivery system. A radiation beam is emitted from a radiation source of the radiation treatment delivery system at the QA marker. An exposure image of the QA marker due to the radiation beam is generated. The exposure image is then analyzed to…
Phantom insert for quality assurance
Granted: September 29, 2009
Patent Number:
7594753
An apparatus for performing quality assurance on a radiation treatment delivery system includes a housing, a target region, and alignment protrusions. The housing is penetrable by a radiation beam of a radiation source of the radiation treatment delivery system and translucent to an image guidance system of the radiation treatment delivery system. The target region is disposed within the housing and contrasts with the housing when imaged by the image guidance system. The alignment…
Method for automatic anatomy-specific treatment planning protocols based on historical integration of previously accepted plans
Granted: September 22, 2009
Patent Number:
7593505
A method of automatically optimizing an inverse treatment plan by referencing data from an accepted plan library.
Automatically determining a beam parameter for radiation treatment planning
Granted: September 15, 2009
Patent Number:
7590219
Systems and methods for automatically determining a beam parameter at each of a plurality of treatment nodes are disclosed. The beam parameter may include a beam shape, beam size and/or beam orientation. Systems and methods for automatically selecting multiple collimators in a radiation treatment system are also disclosed.
Method and apparatus for patient loading and unloading
Granted: June 30, 2009
Patent Number:
7552490
A method and apparatus of a positioning system are described to position an upper-half of a body relative to a head-end of a couch. The positioning system may be a patient positioning system and may include a treatment couch, a leg rest coupled to the treatment couch, and a drive mechanism coupled to the leg rest. The patient positioning system may also include a treatment couch, having a base portion of a treatment couch and plurality of detachable portions of the treatment couch. The…
Image enhancement method and system for fiducial-less tracking of treatment targets
Granted: April 21, 2009
Patent Number:
7522779
A method and system are presented for enhancing one or more images of an object, so as to increase the visibility within the images of one or more structures within the object. The object may be an anatomical region of a patient, and may include one or more reference structures, for example skeletal structures or vertebral structures, and one or more treatment targets, for example tumors or lesions. An operator, for example a top-hat filter operator, selects at least a first neighborhood…
Direct volume rendering of 4D deformable volume images
Granted: March 17, 2009
Patent Number:
7505037
A method and system are presented for direct volume rendering of a deformable volume dataset that represent an object in motion. An original 3D image dataset of the object is acquired at an initial stage of the motion, and segmented. Deformed 3D image datasets of the object are acquired at subsequent stages of the motion. Deformation matrices are computed between the segmented original 3D image dataset and the deformed 3D image datasets. A plurality of deformed mesh patches are generated…
Determining a target-to-surface distance and using it for real time absorbed dose calculation and compensation
Granted: March 17, 2009
Patent Number:
7505559
An apparatus and method for determining a target-to-surface distance (TSD) between a target region in a body and an actual point of entry of a radiation beam into the body from a radiation source. The method may include determining an absorbed dose of radiation from the radiation beam at the target region using the TSD. The method may also include compensating for both the motion of the target region with respect to the radiation source, and the motion of surrounding tissue relative to…
