Patient monitor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11628313-B2
Application number	US-202017087812-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 3, 2020
Priority date	Oct 12, 2012
Publication date	Apr 18, 2023
Grant date	Apr 18, 2023

Abstract

Images obtained by a camera system (10) arranged to obtain images of a patient (20) undergoing radio-therapy are processed by a modeling unit (56,58) which generates a model of the surface of a patient (20) being monitored. Additionally the patient monitoring system processes image data not utilized to generate a model of the surface of a patient being monitored to determine further information concerning the treatment of the patient (20). Such additional data can comprise data identifying the relative location of the patient and a treatment apparatus (16). This can be facilitated by providing a number or retro-reflective markers (30-40) on a treatment apparatus (16) and a mechanical couch (18) used to position the patient (20) relative to the treatment apparatus (16) and monitoring the presence and location of the markers in the portions of the images obtained by the stereoscopic camera (10).

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A radiotherapy treatment system, comprising:
a movable radiotherapy treatment apparatus configured to focus a beam of a radiation source on a treatment target of a patient placed on a movable couch,
wherein the movable couch is configured for positioning said patient to align said treatment target with said beam of the radiation source,
wherein predefined positions of the movable couch and said movable radiotherapy treatment apparatus during a course of radiotherapy treatment are operated according to a predefined treatment plan;
wherein the system further comprises:
a camera system configured to obtain images of said movable radiotherapy treatment apparatus, said movable couch and said patient; and
a control system, configured to:
receive said images from said camera system;
obtain positions of the movable radiotherapy treatment apparatus and the movable couch during the course of radiotherapy treatment; and
compare said obtained positions of the movable radiotherapy treatment apparatus and said movable couch with said predefined positions according to said predefined treatment plan,
generate from said images, a patient surface model of at least a part of said patient containing said treatment target; and
align said patient surface model with a computer model of said movable radiotherapy treatment apparatus and said movable couch,

wherein said alignment of said patient surface model is tracked in relation to said obtained positions of the movable radiotherapy treatment apparatus and the movable couch.

2. The radiotherapy treatment system according to claim 1 , wherein the camera system includes
a projector for projecting a pattern of light onto at least part of said patient; and
a stereoscopic camera operable to obtain a sequence of images, within a defined field of view, of said patient,
wherein the control system is configured to
process portions of the sequences of images, to track relative positioning of the movable radiotherapy treatment apparatus relative to the patient surface model during the course of radiotherapy treatment, and
compare the relative positioning of the movable radiotherapy treatment apparatus relative to the patient surface model with an expected relative positioning based on the predefined treatment plan to identify disparities between the relative positioning of the movable radiotherapy treatment apparatus relative to the patient and the expected relative positioning based on the predefined treatment plan.

3. The radiotherapy treatment system according to claim 1 , further comprising
one or more markers attached to the movable couch or the movable radiotherapy treatment apparatus,
wherein said control system is configured to track position of the movable radiotherapy treatment apparatus and the movable couch by tracking a marker configuration identified from the received images.

4. The radiotherapy treatment system according to claim 3 , wherein the one or more markers are provided on a surface of the movable couch and/or the movable radiotherapy treatment apparatus.

5. The radiotherapy treatment system according to claim 3 , wherein
the one or more markers are retro-reflective markers, and
the control system is further configured to identify portions of the received images which correspond to the one or more markers by performing a thresholding operation.

6. The radiotherapy treatment system according to claim 1 , wherein the moveable radiotherapy treatment apparatus comprises a gantry operable to rotate about an axis relative to a main body of the movable radiotherapy treatment apparatus and the control system is configured to determine relative rotation of the gantry about the axis based on the received images and the computer model.

7. The radiotherapy treatment system according to claim 1 , wherein the control system is further configured to determine the relative positioning of the movable radiotherapy treatment apparatus relative to the patient surface model and generate a warning if the movable radiotherapy treatment apparatus is likely to collide with the patient or the movable couch.

8. The radiotherapy treatment system according to claim 1 , further comprising
a face mask having distinctive markings thereon, and
wherein the control system is configured to process image data corresponding to portions of the images which are not utilized to generate the patient surface model to detect presence of the distinctive markings on said face mask and provide a warning if the distinctive markings do not correspond to expected markings for the patient being treated.

9. A control system configured to:
receive positioning data from a movable radiotherapy treatment apparatus and a movable couch of a radiotherapy system;
receive images from a camera system positioned in the radiotherapy system;
generate from the images, a patient surface model of at least a part of the patient containing a treatment target; and
align the generated patient surface model with a computer model of the movable radiotherapy treatment apparatus and the movable couch,
wherein the control system is configured to track the alignment of the patient surface model in relation to positions of the movable radiotherapy treatment apparatus and the movable couch.

10. The control system according to claim 9 , further configured to output control signals for controlling the relative positions of the movable couch and the movable radiotherapy treatment apparatus laterally, vertically, longitudinally, and rotationally.

11. The control system according to claim 9 , wherein the control system is further configured to determine the relative positioning of the movable radiotherapy treatment apparatus relative to the patient surface model and generate a warning if the movable radiotherapy treatment apparatus is likely to collide with the patient or the movable couch.

12. The control system according to claim 9 , wherein the control system is configured to track positions of the movable radiotherapy treatment apparatus and the movable couch by tracking a marker configuration provided on the movable radiotherapy treatment apparatus and/or on the movable couch, where the marker configuration is identified from the received images.

13. The control system according to claim 12 , wherein the control system is configured to identify portions of the received images which correspond to the marker configuration by performing a thresholding operation.

14. The control system according to claim 9 , wherein the control system comprises a position determination module configured to receive the images from the camera system and to process the images to identify corresponding points in pairs of images obtained by the camera system and to forward the processed images to a model generation module for generating at least the patient surface model.

15. The control system according to claim 9 , wherein the control system comprises a model generation module operable to process the images from the camera system and generate the patient surface model.

16. The control system according to claim 9 , wherein the control system comprises a generated model store unit configured to store the patient surface model.

17. The control system according to claim 9 , wherein the control system comprises a target model store configured for storing a target patient surface model saved from an earlier session using the radiotherapy system, wherein the control system is configured to calculate the difference between the patient surface model generated from the images with the tar

Assignees

• Vision Rt Ltd

Inventors

• Meir Ivan
• Cooper Kathryn
• Smith Norman
• Hale Gideon
• Allen Martin

Classifications

• G06T2207/10021

  Stereoscopic video; Stereoscopic image sequence · CPC title

• H04N13/204

  using stereoscopic image cameras (stereoscopic photography G03B35/00) · CPC title

• A61N5/1081

  Rotating beam systems with a specific mechanical construction, e.g. gantries · CPC title

• A61N2005/1059

  using cameras imaging the patient · CPC title

• A61B2090/3904

  specially adapted for marking specified tissue · CPC title