Method for specifying a position of a patient with respect to the isocenter of a medical imaging scanner

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10216376-B2
Application number	US-201614995428-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 14, 2016
Priority date	Jan 14, 2015
Publication date	Feb 26, 2019
Grant date	Feb 26, 2019

Abstract

In a method and medical imaging apparatus for specifying a position of a patient with respect to the isocenter of the scanner of the medical imaging apparatus, position data of the patient are acquired before introducing the patient into the patient-receiving region of the scanner and the acquired position data are evaluated with respect to a patient image. The patient image is transferred to a graphic interface, wherein the patient image is displayed. A position of a patient with respect to the isocenter is specified by determining at least one localization point in the patient image via the graphic interface.

First claim

We claim as our invention:

1. A method for identifying a position of a patient with respect to an isocenter of a medical imaging apparatus, comprising:
before moving a patient into a medical data acquisition scanner, having an isocenter, in order to acquire medical image data from the patient by operation of the scanner, acquiring position data of the patient while the patient on a patient support is outside of the scanner;
providing the acquired position data to a computer and correlating said position data with a patient image of the patient;
transferring the patient image to a graphic interface and displaying the patient image at the graphic interface; and
designating a localization point in the patient image displayed at the graphic interface, and also displaying a graphic positioning element superimposed on the patient image, said graphic positioning element designating said isocenter with respect to said patient image, and designating said localization point by manipulating said graphic positioning element with respect to the patient image via the graphic interface; and
from the designation of the localization point on the displayed patient image and using the correlation of the position data with the patient image, automatically specifying, in said computer, a position of the patient outside of the scanner relative to said isocenter and formulating an electrical signal in said computer to cause the patient support to move with the patient thereon into the scanner to make said localization point to coincide with the isocenter, and making the electrical signal available from the computer in a form for operating the patient support.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1 comprising displaying the patient image on a touchscreen of said graphic interface, and designating said localization point by manual interaction with said touchscreen.

3. A method as claimed in claim 2 comprising designating said localization point by a manual gesture with respect to said touchscreen.

4. A method as claimed in claim 1 comprising acquiring the position data of the patient with a position data acquisition detector.

5. A method as claimed in claim 1 comprising acquiring said position data of the patient that completely map the patient.

6. A method as claimed in claim 1 comprising selecting said graphic positioning element from the group consisting of a line and a point.

7. A method as claimed in claim 1 comprising, when acquiring said patient data, also acquiring accessory data representing at least one accessory component to be used when acquiring said medical image data from the patient with said scanner.

8. A method as claimed in claim 7 wherein said scanner is a magnetic resonance data acquisition scanner, and comprising employing a local radio-frequency antenna as said accessory.

9. A method as claimed in claim 7 comprising, when acquiring said position data of the patient, acquiring said accessory data as data selected from the group consisting of data designating a position of said accessory and data designating a type of said accessory, and using said accessory data in said computer to generate a positioning suggestion with respect to the patient for said accessory, and presenting said positioning suggestion at said graphic interface by automatically superimposing a graphic representation of said accessory on said patient image displayed at said graphic interface dependent on said positioning suggestion.

10. A method as claimed in claim 9 comprising accepting said positioning suggestion by a manual acceptance entry made via said graphic interface.

11. A method as claimed in claim 9 comprising allowing an operator to manually move said graphic representation of said accessory superimposed on the patient image at said graphic interface in order to change said positioning suggestion.

12. A method as claimed in claim 7 wherein said accessory is one of a plurality of accessories, and displaying respective designations of said plurality of accessories at respective, different areas on said graphic display, and allowing a manual selection of one of said accessories by manual interaction with a respective one of the areas on said graphic display.

13. A method as claimed in claim 1 comprising controlling operation of said patient support with said computer to move said patient support into a patient-receiving region of said scanner to cause said localization point to coincide with said isocenter.

14. A medical imaging apparatus comprising:
a medical data acquisition scanner having an isocenter;
a patient support adapted to receive a patient thereon from whom medical data are to be acquired by operation of the scanner;
a position data acquisition detector configured to acquire position data of the patient while the patient is outside of the scanner on the patient support, before moving the patient into a medical data acquisition scanner in order to acquire medical image data from the patient by operation of the scanner;
a computer provided with the acquired position data, said computer being configured to correlate said position data with a patient image of the patient;
said computer being configured to transfer the patient image to said graphic interface and said graphic interface being configured to display the patient image at the graphic interface; and
said graphic interface being configured to designate a localization point in the patient image displayed at the graphic interface, and also to display a graphic positioning element superimposed on the patient image, said graphic positioning element designating said isocenter with respect to said patient image, and to designate said localization point by manipulating said graphic positioning element with respect to the patient image via the graphic interface; and
from the designation of the localization point on the displayed patient image and using the correlation of the position data with the patient image, said computer being configured to automatically specify a position of the patient outside of the scanner relative to said isocenter and to formulate an electrical signal and to move the patient support with the patient thereon into the scanner to cause said localization point to coincide with the isocenter, and to provide the electrical signal from the computer to operate the patient support.

15. A medical imaging apparatus as claimed in claim 14 wherein said position data acquisition detector is a camera selected from the group consisting of 2D cameras and 3D cameras.

16. A medical imaging apparatus as claimed in claim 15 wherein said position data acquisition detector has a field of view, and wherein said position data acquisition detector is situated so that said field of view completely encompasses the patient and the position data of the patient completely map the patient.

17. A medical imaging apparatus as claimed in claim 14 wherein said graphic interface comprises a touchscreen at which said patient image is displayed.

18. A medical imaging apparatus as claimed in claim 14 wherein said scanner comprises a scanner housing, and wherein said graphic interface is mounted on said housing.

19. A non-transitory, computer-readable data storage medium encoded with programming instructions, said storage medium being loaded into a control computer of a medical imaging apparatus that comprises a medical data acquisition scanner and a position data acquisition detector, said programming instructions causing said control computer to:
before moving a patient into a medical data acquisition scanne

Assignees

• Siemens Ag
• Siemens Healthcare Gmbh

Inventors

• Hardie Donald
• Jaeger Anja
• Nufer Stephan
• Speckner Thorsten
• Thoene Jens

Classifications

• G06F3/04883

  for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text · CPC title

• G06T7/0012

  Biomedical image inspection · CPC title

• G06T2207/30196

  Human being; Person · CPC title

• G06T2207/10088

  Magnetic resonance imaging [MRI] · CPC title

• G06T2207/30204

  Marker · CPC title