Automated anatomy delineation for image guided therapy planning

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9724538-B2
Application number	US-201013260735-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 2, 2010
Priority date	Apr 2, 2009
Publication date	Aug 8, 2017
Grant date	Aug 8, 2017

Abstract

When delineating anatomical structures in a medical image of a patient for radiotherapy planning, a processor ( 18 ) detects landmarks ( 24 ) in a low-resolution image (e.g., MRI or low-dose CT) and maps the detected landmarks to reference landmarks ( 28 ) in a reference contour of the anatomical structure. The mapped landmarks facilitate adjusting the reference contour to fit the anatomical structure. The adjusted reference contour data is transformed and applied to a second image using a thin-plate spline, and the adjusted high-resolution image is used for radiotherapy planning.

First claim

Having thus described the preferred embodiments, the invention is now claimed to be:

1. A system that facilitates delineating anatomical features in images used for image-guided therapy planning, including:
a medical imaging workstation comprising a computer processor configured to:
receive an initial image of an anatomical structure in a patient from an imaging device;
detect anatomical landmarks in the initial image, the detected landmarks being at least one of hard-tissue landmarks and soft-tissue landmarks;
compare positions of the detected anatomical landmarks with reference landmarks in a reference contour corresponding to the anatomical structure;
map the detected anatomical landmarks to the reference landmarks;
adjust the reference contour to the anatomical structure based on mapped landmark pairs;
adjust a contour of the anatomical structure in a second image of the anatomical structure using the adjusted reference contour;
store an adjusted second image to a memory; and
provide the adjusted second image to a therapy planning processor.

2. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the reference contour is adjusted using a thin-plate spline.

3. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the initial image is a CT image generated by a CT scanner.

4. The system according to claim 3 , wherein the detected landmarks are hard-tissue landmarks.

5. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the initial image is a magnetic resonance (MR) image generated by an MR imaging (MRI) device.

6. The system according to claim 5 , wherein the detected landmarks are soft-tissue landmarks.

7. The system according to claim 1 , wherein detected landmark position information is exported using a DICOM data transfer protocol.

8. The system according to claim 1 , further comprising a therapy planning computer processor configured to execute computer-executable instructions for generating at least one of a radiotherapy plan, an ultrasound therapy plan, a particle beam therapy plan, an ablation therapy plan, and a physical therapy plan based at least in part on information contained in the adjusted second image.

9. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the initial image and the second image are generated using different imaging modalities.

10. The system according to claim 9 , wherein the initial image is generated using at least one of a computed tomography (CT) scanner and a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) device, and wherein the second image is generated using at least one of the CT scanner, the MRI device, and a nuclear imaging device.

11. A method of delineating anatomical features in images used for image-guided therapy planning, including:
via a computer processor in a medical imaging workstation:
detecting anatomical landmarks of an anatomical structure in an initial image, the detected landmarks being at least one of hard-tissue landmarks and soft-tissue landmarks;
comparing positions of the detected anatomical landmarks with reference landmarks in a reference contour corresponding to the anatomical structure;
mapping the detected anatomical landmarks to the reference landmarks;
adjusting the reference contour to the anatomical structure based on the mapped landmark pairs;
adjusting, via a processor, a contour of the anatomical structure in a second image using the adjusted reference contour;
outputting the adjusted second image to a therapy plan processor; and

via a therapy planning device, generating a therapy plan based at least in part on the adjusted second image.

12. The method according to claim 11 , further including at least one of:
displaying at least one of the initial image and the second image on a display;
storing at least one of the initial image and the second image to a memory; and
storing the therapy plan to the memory.

13. The method according to claim 11 , further including:
adjusting the reference contour using a thin-plate spline.

14. The method according to claim 11 , further including:
generating the initial image with CT scanner, wherein the detected landmarks are hard-tissue landmarks.

15. The method according to claim 11 , further including:
generating the initial image with an MRI device, wherein the detected landmarks are soft-tissue landmarks.

16. The method according to claim 11 , further including:
generating at least one of a radiotherapy plan, an ultrasound therapy plan, a particle beam therapy plan, an ablation therapy plan, and a physical therapy plan based at least in part on information contained in the adjusted second image.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium carrying a computer program that controls one or more computers to perform the method according to claim 11 .

18. A therapy-planning workstation including a processor programmed to perform the method according to claim 11 .

19. A non-transitory computer-readable medium that stores computer-executable instructions for generating a therapy plan for a patient, for execution by a processor, the instructions including:
generating a low-resolution image of a patient using at least one of a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) device and a computed tomography (CT) scanner;
detecting landmarks on an anatomical structure in low-resolution image;
mapping the detected landmarks to reference landmarks in a reference contour stored in a memory;
employing one or more thin-plate splines to adjust the reference contour to fit a contour of the anatomical structure using the mapped landmarks;
applying the adjusted reference contour to a second image of the anatomical structure to adjust the second image; and
generating a radiotherapy plan based at least in part on the adjusted second image.

20. The computer-readable medium according to claim 19 , the instructions further comprising:
generating the second image using at least one of the CT scanner, the MRI device and a nuclear scanner;
wherein the second image is generated using a different imaging modality than the low-resolution image.

Assignees

• Pekar Vladimir
• Bystrov Daniel
• Koninklijke Philips Nv

Inventors

• Pekar Vladimir
• Bystrov Daniel

Classifications

• G06T2200/04

  involving 3D image data · CPC title

• A61N5/103 Primary

  Treatment planning systems · CPC title

• G06T7/149

  involving deformable models, e.g. active contour models · CPC title

• G06T7/174

  involving the use of two or more images · CPC title

• G06T2219/2021

  Shape modification · CPC title