Tissue-orientation-based simulation of deep brain stimulation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11026626-B2
Application number	US-201615540110-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 18, 2016
Priority date	Jan 19, 2015
Publication date	Jun 8, 2021
Grant date	Jun 8, 2021

Abstract

A method is provided for determining an orientation of nerve fibres relative to a non-physiological electric field. Patient medical image data is acquired, which describes a patient medical image of an anatomical body part of a patient's body. The anatomical body part includes nerve tissue comprising white matter nerve fibres. Diffusion image data is acquired, which describes a diffusion-enhanced image of the anatomical body part. Atlas data is acquired, which describes a spatial distribution of grey value-based tissue classes in a model body part representing a model of the anatomical body part. Based on the patient image data, the diffusion image data, and the atlas data, fibre orientation data is determined. The fibre orientation data describes an orientation of the white matter nerve fibres. Electric field orientation data is acquired, which describes an orientation of the non-physiological electric field. The non-physiological electric field is an electric field simulated around a simulated electrode virtually placed in a predetermined spatial relationship relative to the anatomical body part. Based on the fibre orientation data and the electric field orientation data, relative orientation data is determined. The relative orientation data describes a relative orientation between the orientation of the white matter nerve fibres and the orientation of the electric field.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A medical visualization system for determining an orientation of nerve fibers relative to a non-physiological electric field, comprising:
a display device; and
a computer having a processor, the computer being configured to:
acquire patient medical image data describing a patient medical image of an anatomical body part of a body of an associated patient, the anatomical body part including nerve tissue comprising white matter nerve fibers;
acquire diffusion image data describing a diffusion-enhanced image of the anatomical body part;
acquire atlas data describing a spatial distribution of grey value-based tissue classes in a model body part representing a model of the anatomical body part;
determine, based on the patient image data and the diffusion image data and the atlas data, fiber orientation data describing an orientation of the white matter nerve fibers, wherein the atlas data serves as a comparison for determining the area in which the nerve fibers are positioned in the diffusion image data, and the diffusion image data is used to reconstruct a diffusion tensor which describes the orientation of the nerve fibers and determining the fiber orientation data includes determining a transformation between a position of the anatomical body part in the diffusion-enhanced image and a position of the anatomical body part in the patient medical image, wherein the patient medical image is defined by grey values and wherein the position of the white matter in the patient medical image is determined by comparing the grey values of the patient medical image to the tissue classes described by the atlas data;
acquire electric field orientation data describing an orientation of the non-physiological electric field, the non-physiological electric field being an electric field simulated around a simulated electrode virtually placed in a predetermined spatial relationship relative to the anatomical body part;
determine, based on the fiber orientation data and the electric field orientation data, relative orientation data describing a relative orientation between the orientation of the white matter nerve fibers and the orientation of the electric field, the relative orientation being described as an orientation angle between the orientation of the white matter nerve fibers and the orientation of the electric field;
determine indication signal data describing an indication signal to be output to a user using the information content of the relative orientation data,
wherein the indication signal data comprises relative orientation visualization data describing a visualization of the relative orientation between the white matter nerve fibers and the electric field, wherein the visualization indicates the orientation angle described by the relative orientation data,
wherein the visualization comprises a colored display of the patient medical image or the diffusion-enhanced image, and wherein angular threshold data is acquired describing a threshold angle,
wherein image units of the patient medical image or the diffusion-enhanced image, respectively, are constituted to be displayed in different colors in dependence on the relationship between the relative orientation between the white matter nerve fibers and the electric field and the threshold angle; and
output, to a user by the display device, the indication signal.

2. A computer-implemented medical method for determining an orientation of nerve fibers relative to a non-physiological electric field, the method comprising executing, by a processor of a computer, steps of:
acquiring patient medical image data describing a patient medical image of an anatomical body part of a body of an associated patient, the anatomical body part including nerve tissue comprising white matter nerve fibers;
acquiring diffusion image data describing a diffusion-enhanced image of the anatomical body part;
acquiring atlas data describing a spatial distribution of grey value-based tissue classes in a model body part representing a model of the anatomical body part;
determining, based on the patient image data and the diffusion image data and the atlas data, fiber orientation data describing an orientation of the white matter nerve fibers, wherein the atlas data serves as a comparison for determining the area in which the nerve fibers are positioned in the diffusion image data, and the diffusion image data is used to reconstruct a diffusion tensor which describes the orientation of the nerve fibers and determining the fiber orientation data includes determining a transformation between a position of the anatomical body part in the diffusion-enhanced image and a position of the anatomical body part in the patient medical image, wherein the patient medical image is defined by grey values and wherein the position of the white matter in the patient medical image is determined by comparing the grey values of the patient medical image to the tissue classes described by the atlas data;
acquiring electric field orientation data describing an orientation of the non-physiological electric field, the non-physiological electric field being an electric field simulated around a simulated electrode virtually placed in a predetermined spatial relationship relative to the anatomical body part;
determining, based on the fiber orientation data and the electric field orientation data, relative orientation data describing a relative orientation between the orientation of the white matter nerve fibers and the orientation of the electric field, the relative orientation being described as an orientation angle between the orientation of the white matter nerve fibers and the orientation of the electric field;
determining indication signal data describing an indication signal to be output to a user using the information content of the relative orientation data,
wherein the indication signal data comprises relative orientation visualization data describing a visualization of the relative orientation between the white matter nerve fibers and the electric field, wherein the visualization indicates the orientation angle described by the relative orientation data,
wherein the visualization comprises a colored display of the patient medical image or the diffusion-enhanced image, and wherein angular threshold data is acquired describing a threshold angle,
wherein image units of the patient medical image or the diffusion-enhanced image, respectively, are constituted to be displayed in different colors in dependence on the relationship between the relative orientation between the white matter nerve fibers and the electric field and the threshold angle; and
outputting, to a user using an associated indication device for indicating digital information, the indication signal.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein determining the fiber orientation data includes determining, by the processor, a transformation between a position of the anatomical body part in the diffusion-enhanced image and a position of the anatomical body part in the patient medical image, wherein the patient medical image is defined by grey values and wherein the position of the white matter in the patient medical image is determined by comparing the grey values of the patient medical image to the tissue classes described by the atlas data.

4. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the patient medical image data is generated based on a computed x-ray tomography or a magnetic resonance tomography of the anatomical body part and the diffusion image data is generated based on a magnetic resonance tomography of the anatomical body part.

5. The method according to claim 2 , wherein determining the fiber orientation data based on the diffusion image data further comprises determining the diffusion tensor describing the diffusion of

Assignees

• Brainlab Ag

Inventors

• Varkuti Bálint

Classifications

• G06T2207/10081

  Computed x-ray tomography [CT] · CPC title

• A61N1/0534

  Electrodes for deep brain stimulation · CPC title

• A61B5/4893 Primary

  Nerves · CPC title

• G06T2207/10092

  Diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging [DTI] · CPC title

• A61B5/743

  Displaying an image simultaneously with additional graphical information, e.g. symbols, charts, function plots · CPC title