Tissue-orientation-based simulation of deep brain stimulation

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.

A non-transitory computer-readable program storage medium storing a program which, when executed by a processor of a computer, causes the computer to execute a computer-implemented medical method for determining an orientation of nerve fibers relative to a non-physiological electric field, the method comprising:

• 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.