System and method for integrated biopsy and therapy

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10980508-B2
Application number	US-201013321836-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 14, 2010
Priority date	Jun 5, 2009
Publication date	Apr 20, 2021
Grant date	Apr 20, 2021

Abstract

A system and method for integrating diagnosis and treatment for internal tissues includes imaging (202) at least a portion of an internal organ of a subject using a first technology capable of differentiating tissue types, and targeting (205) and accessing biopsy sites using images of the first technology fused with images of a second technology capable of real-time image updates. Treatment of a biopsy site is planned (207) using the images of the first technology. Instruments for treating the biopsy site are guided (210) by fusing (208) the images of the first technology with the images of the second technology.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for integrating diagnosis and treatment for internal tissues, comprising acts of:
imaging at least a portion of an internal organ of a subject using a first technology capable of differentiating tissue types to obtain static images;
simultaneously obtaining real-time images from a tracked probe of a second technology and obtaining probe position information corresponding to positions of the tracked probe, the tracked probe having a sensor configured to provide the probe position information, the second technology being of configured to perform real-time image updates and being different from the first technology;
forming a first fused image which includes a static image of the static images of the first technology combined with a real-time image of the real-time images of the second technology based on the probe position information;
identifying biopsy sites on at least one static image of the static images of the first technology using the first fused image;
targeting and accessing the identified biopsy sites;
obtaining site positional information of the targeted and accessed biopsy sites from the sensor of the tracked probe located at the targeted and accessed biopsy sites;
transforming the site positional information of the targeted and accessed biopsy sites to corresponding position information in the static images to form transformed static images;
planning treatment of at least one of the biopsy sites to form a plan static image from the static images based on the transformed static images including the site positional information of the targeted and accessed biopsy sites that were identified using the first fused image and based on pathology results of biopsy specimens obtained at the targeted and accessed biopsy sites;
forming a second fused image which includes the plan static image combined with the real-time image;
guiding an instrument for treating the at least one biopsy site using the second fused image;
constructing a volumetric ultrasound image based on the real-time images and the probe position information;
spatially aligning the static images and the real-time images to form at least the first fused image; and
registering the real-time image with the volumetric ultrasound image to recover the first fused image in response to misalignment between the real-time images and the volumetric ultrasound image.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the first technology includes magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and the second technology includes ultrasonic imaging.

3. The method as recited in claim 2 , wherein the internal organ includes a prostate and the act of targeting and accessing the identified biopsy sites using the first fused image includes performing a sextant and magnetic resonance tracked biopsy.

4. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the internal organ includes any soft-tissue organ.

5. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the act of targeting and accessing the identified biopsy sites includes tracking the tracked probe in the first fused image using a tracking system.

6. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the act of guiding the instrument for treating the at least one biopsy site includes guiding focal therapy using the second fused image.

7. The method as recited in claim 6 , wherein the focal therapy includes at least one of an ablative therapy, a radiation-based therapy, and a photodynamic therapy.

8. The method as recited in claim 6 , wherein the act of guiding the instrument for treating the at least one biopsy site includes adapting an image guidance system employed for biopsy to perform the focal therapy.

9. The method as recited in claim 6 , wherein the act of guiding the instrument for treating the at least one biopsy site includes employing a mechanical device for the focal therapy by using one of a position encoder and a template grid.

10. A method for integrating diagnosis and treatment for internal tissues, comprising acts of:
imaging at least a portion of an internal organ of a subject using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to obtain MRI images;
simultaneously obtaining from a tracked probe ultrasound images and probe position information corresponding to positions of the tracked probe;
forming a first fused image which includes an MRI image of the MRI images combined with an ultrasound image of the ultrasound images based on the probe position information;
updating in real-time the first fused image in response to misalignment between the MRI image and the ultrasound image;
identifying biopsy sites on the MRI images using the first fused image;
targeting and accessing the identified biopsy sites;
obtaining site positional information of the targeted and accessed biopsy sites from the tracked probe located at the targeted and accessed biopsy sites;
transforming the site positional information of the targeted and accessed biopsy sites to corresponding position information in the MRI images to form transformed MRI images;
planning treatment of at least one of the biopsy sites to form a plan MRI image from the MRI images based on the transformed MRI images including the site positional information of the targeted and accessed biopsy sites that were identified using the first fused image and based on pathology results of biopsy specimens obtained at the targeted and accessed biopsy sites;
forming a second fused image which includes the plan MRI image combined with the ultrasound image; and
guiding an instrument for treating the at least one biopsy site using the second fused image.

11. The method as recited in claim 10 , wherein the internal organ includes a prostate and the act of targeting and accessing the identified biopsy sites includes performing at least one of a sextant, a blind, and a magnetic resonance tracked biopsy.

12. The method as recited in claim 10 , wherein the act of targeting and accessing the identified biopsy sites includes tracking the tracked probe in the first fused image using a tracking system.

13. The method as recited in claim 10 , wherein the act of guiding the instrument for treating the at least one biopsy site includes guiding focal therapy using the second fused image.

14. The method as recited in claim 13 , wherein the focal therapy includes at least one of an ablative therapy, a radiation-based therapy, and a photodynamic therapy.

15. The method as recited in claim 13 , wherein the act of guiding the instruments for treating the at least one biopsy site includes adapting an image guidance system employed for biopsy to perform the focal therapy.

16. The method as recited in claim 13 , wherein the act of guiding the instrument for treating the at least one biopsy site includes employing a mechanical device for the focal therapy by using one of a position encoder and a template grid.

17. A system for integrating diagnosis and treatment for internal tissues, comprising:
a scanner configured to image at least a portion of an internal organ of a subject;
a tracking system configured to track an interventional instrument for targeting and accessing biopsy sites in accordance with real-time images from the scanner, to obtain instrument position information corresponding to positions of the tracked interventional instrument, and to locate focal therapy sites corresponding therewith;
a processor having associated memory storage for storing a program, the program configuring the processor to cause:
based on the instrument position information, generation of first fused images which include static images taken with a first tech

Assignees

• Xu Sheng
• Kruecker Jochen
• Wood Bradford Johns
• Koninklijke Philips Nv
• The United States Of America Dept Of Health And Human Services

Inventors

• Xu Sheng
• Kruecker Jochen
• Wood Bradford Johns

Classifications

• A61B8/0833 Primary

  involving detecting or locating foreign bodies or organic structures · CPC title

• A61B18/02

  by cooling, e.g. cryogenic techniques · CPC title

• A61B8/5238

  for combining image data of patient, e.g. merging several images from different acquisition modes into one image · CPC title

• A61B34/20

  Surgical navigation systems; Devices for tracking or guiding surgical instruments, e.g. for frameless stereotaxis · CPC title

• A61B8/0841

  for locating instruments · CPC title