Portal imaging for brachytherapy

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10456595-B2
Application number	US-201414904121-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 7, 2014
Priority date	Jul 17, 2013
Publication date	Oct 29, 2019
Grant date	Oct 29, 2019

Abstract

A system for interventional brachytherapy for generating data to be used directly for therapy and/or for therapy planning includes a radiation source which irradiates tissue of a patient and one or more radiation detectors which detect radiation delivered to the patient and generate radiation dosage data indicative thereof. One or more position sensors determine the position of the radiation source and a localization unit, in communication with the one or more position sensors, generates position data indicative of the position of the radiation source. An image database stores one or more anatomical images of the patient. A dose calculation unit which co-registers the one or more anatomical images with the positional and radiation dosage data and generates dose monitoring data based on the co-registration.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A system for interventional brachytherapy for generating data to be used directly for therapy and/or for therapy planning, said system comprising:
a radiation source configured to be inserted into a patient to irradiate tissue of the patient;
one or more radiation detectors configured to be disposed outside the patient to detect radiation from the radiation source after the radiation has been transmitted through the patient and generate radiation dosage data in real time indicative thereof, the one or more radiation detectors being displaced from the patient and freely movable relative to the radiation source and the patient;
a plurality of position sensors including a first position sensor configured to determine a position of the radiation source in real-time and a second position sensor configured to determine a position of the one or more radiation detectors in real-time;
a localization unit, in communication with the plurality of position sensors, which generates position data indicative of the position of the radiation source;
an image database which stores one or more anatomical images of the patient; and
a dose calculation unit which co-registers the one or more anatomical images with the positional and radiation dosage data and generates dose monitoring data based on the co-registration.

2. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of position sensors include optical shape sensing (OSS) sensors which track fiber sensors integrated into the radiation source.

3. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the position sensors include at least one of differential Global Positioning System (dGPS), impedance sensing, optical marker/camera measurements, and electromagnetic (EM) tracking.

4. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the radiation source includes a miniature x-ray source.

5. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the dose calculation unit determines a radiation dose actually delivered to each voxel of the tissue based on the co-registered one or more anatomical images and the radiation data.

6. The system according to claim 5 , further including:
a real-time ultrasound imaging system configured to generate images depicting organ motion and deformation, the dose calculation unit determining the radiation dose actually delivered to each voxel of the tissue based further on the ultrasound images.

7. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the dose calculation unit further generates multi-modal images in real time from the dose monitoring data and anatomical images, the multi-modal images depicting radiation dose delivered to each voxel of the tissue.

8. The system according to claim 1 , wherein a planning unit re-plans a radiation treatment plan based on the dose monitoring data.

9. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the radiation source is 192-Ir.

10. The system according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of the one or more radiation detectors are hand held to be freely positionable relative to the source.

11. A system for interventional brachytherapy for generating data to be used for therapy or therapy planning, the system comprising:
a computer database configured to store an anatomical image of a patient suitable for identifying target and non-target tissues;
a real-time imaging system configured to generate images of the patient in real-time;
a radiation source configured to be inserted into the patient to a location near the target tissue to irradiate the target tissue, the radiation source being coupled with a first position sensor configured to indicate a position of the radiation source;
one or more radiation detectors configured to receive radiation from the radiation source after the radiation has passed through the patient and to generate radiation dosage data in real-time indicative of the received radiation, the one or more radiation detectors including additional position sensors, the additional position sensors being configured to indicate a location of each of the one or more radiation detectors, the one or more radiation detectors and the additional position sensors being configured to be displaced from the patient and move relative to the patient, the target tissue and the radiation source;
a workstation including a display and a user input device; and
one or more computer processors configured to:
retrieve the anatomical image from the computer database and control the workstation display to display the anatomical image,
detect the locations of the first and additional position sensors and the radiation dose detected by the one or more radiation detectors,
generate a dose map indicative of a cumulative dose delivered to the target tissue based on the determined first and additional position sensor locations, the detected radiation dose, the real-time image, and a motion model that predicts target tissue and non-target tissue volume locations during treatment attributable to organ motion and/or deformation,
control the workstation display to display a representation of the cumulative dose superimposed on the anatomical image.

12. The system according to claim 11 , wherein the one or more computer processors are further configured to:
retrieve the anatomical image from the computer database,
develop a brachytherapy plan based on inputs from the user input device, and
verify and adaptively re-plan the brachytherapy plan based on the cumulative dose.

13. The system according to claim 12 , wherein the brachytherapy plan includes a plurality of fractions of radiation doses to be provided to a desired location via the radiation source and the one or more computer processors are further programmed to: adaptively re-plan the fractions of radiation doses during therapy.

14. The system according to claim 12 , wherein the re-planning the brachytherapy plan is performed in real-time based on the cumulative dose and organ motion and/or deformation.

15. The system according to claim 11 , wherein at least one of the one or more radiation detectors are hand held to be freely movable and positionable relative to the radiation source and the patient.

Assignees

• Koninklijke Philips Nv

Inventors

• Ribbing Carolina
• Chan Raymond
• Gutierrez Luis Felipe

Classifications

• A61N2005/1022

  Generators, e.g. X-ray tubes · CPC title

• A61N5/1001 Primary

  using radiation sources introduced into or applied onto the body; brachytherapy · CPC title

• A61N5/1071

  for verifying the dose delivered by the treatment plan · CPC title

• A61N2005/1058

  using ultrasound imaging · CPC title

• A61N5/1064

  for adjusting radiation treatment in response to monitoring · CPC title