Provision of thermal conductivity data relating to an anatomical structure for a cryoablation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12544016-B2
Application number	US-202218146822-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 27, 2022
Priority date	Dec 29, 2021
Publication date	Feb 10, 2026
Grant date	Feb 10, 2026

Abstract

A method for providing thermal conductivity data relating to an anatomical structure, comprises: receiving first spectral computed tomography data relating to the anatomical structure; calculating a fat map of the anatomical structure and a water map of the anatomical structure based on the first spectral computed tomography data; calculating the thermal conductivity data relating to the anatomical structure based on the fat map and the water map; and providing the thermal conductivity data.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method for providing thermal conductivity data relating to an anatomical structure, the method comprising:
receiving first spectral computed tomography data relating to the anatomical structure in a first state of the anatomical structure in which no cryoablation probe is introduced into the anatomical structure; receiving second spectral computed tomography data relating to the anatomical structure in a second state of the anatomical structure, in which a cryoablation probe is introduced into the anatomical structure; calculating a fat map of the anatomical structure and a water map of the anatomical structure based on the first spectral computed tomography data; calculating the thermal conductivity data relating to the anatomical structure based on the fat map and the water map; providing the thermal conductivity data; and calculating an image based on the first spectral computed tomography data and the second spectral computed tomography data, the image showing the anatomical structure in the second state of the anatomical structure, wherein hardening artifacts caused by the cryoablation probe in the second spectral computed tomography data are corrected based on the first spectral computed tomography data in order to calculate the image showing the anatomical structure in the second state of the anatomical structure.

2 . The method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:
generating a representation of a fluid-guiding substructure of the anatomical structure based on at least one of the fat map of the anatomical structure or the water map of the anatomical structure, and wherein
the thermal conductivity data is calculated based on the representation of the fluid-guiding substructure of the anatomical structure.

3 . The method as claimed in claim 1 ,
wherein the anatomical structure has a region to be treated, and wherein the method includes calculating, based on the thermal conductivity data, a representation of a freezing zone for a cryoablation of the region to be treated.

4 . The method as claimed in claim 3 , further comprising:
wherein, for each time point of a plurality of consecutive time points, the representation of the freezing zone relating to the time point is calculated based on the thermal conductivity data.

5 . The method as claimed in claim 1 ,
wherein a position for the cryoablation probe is calculated based on the thermal conductivity data.

6 . The method as claimed in claim 1 ,
wherein the second spectral computed tomography data is recorded with a higher X-ray tube voltage than the first spectral computed tomography data.

7 . The method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving third spectral computed tomography data relating to the anatomical structure in a third state of the anatomical structure, in which the cryoablation probe is introduced into the anatomical structure, wherein
the third state of the anatomical structure results from the second state of the anatomical structure on account of a removal of heat via the cryoablation probe; and
calculating a density change map of the anatomical structure based on the second spectral computed tomography data and the third spectral computed tomography data.

8 . The method as claimed in claim 7 , further comprising:
calculating a freezing map of a region to be treated based on the density change map.

9 . The method as claimed in claim 8 , further comprising:
calculating an operating parameter of the cryoablation probe by applying a control algorithm to a representation of a freezing zone as a reference variable and to the freezing map as a control variable.

10 . A data processing system for providing the thermal conductivity data, the data processing system having a data interface and a processor, wherein the data processing system is configured to carry out the method as claimed in claim 1 .

11 . A medical imaging system, having the data processing system as claimed in claim 10 and a computed tomography device configured to record the first spectral computed tomography data.

12 . A medical cryoablation system, having the medical imaging system as claimed in claim 11 and the cryoablation probe.

13 . A non-transitory computer program product, comprising instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to carry out the method as claimed in claim 1 .

14 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, comprising instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to carry out the method as claimed in claim 1 .

15 . The method as claimed in claim 2 ,
wherein the anatomical structure has a region to be treated, and wherein the method includes calculating, based on the thermal conductivity data, a representation of a freezing zone for a cryoablation of the region to be treated.

16 . The method as claimed in claim 2 ,
wherein a position for the cryoablation probe is calculated based on the thermal conductivity data.

17 . The method as claimed in claim 6 , further comprising:
receiving third spectral computed tomography data relating to the anatomical structure in a third state of the anatomical structure, in which the cryoablation probe is introduced into the anatomical structure, wherein
the third state of the anatomical structure results from the second state of the anatomical structure on account of a removal of heat via the cryoablation probe; and
calculating a density change map of the anatomical structure based on the second spectral computed tomography data and the third spectral computed tomography data.

Assignees

• Siemens Healthineers Ag

Inventors

• Hofmann Bernd
• Lichy Matthias
• Schmidt Bernhard

Classifications

• G06T2207/10081

  Computed x-ray tomography [CT] · CPC title

• G06T7/0012

  Biomedical image inspection · CPC title

• A61B2018/0293

  using an instrument interstitially inserted into the body, e.g. needle · CPC title

• A61B2018/00511

  Kidney · CPC title

• A61B2018/00577

  Ablation · CPC title