Body structure imaging

A method of guiding a body part treatment, using a functional imaging of a nervous tissue, comprising:

• acquiring functional imaging modality data from a nuclear medicine functional imaging modality which images an intrabody volume of a patient having a body part, the patient having been injected with a radio-labeled tracer imaging agent having a nervous tissue uptake by an autonomic nervous system (ANS);
• receiving at least one image mask designed for isolating a region of the functional imaging modality data corresponding to the intrabody volume of the patient predicted to include nervous tissue including at least, one ganglionic plexus (GP) that is not differentially depicted within an anatomical image of the intrabody volume captured by an anatomical imaging modality;
• applying the at least one image mask to the functional imaging modality data to isolate the region corresponding to the intrabody volume predicted to include the nervous tissue;
• locating at least one GP in the intrabody volume based on the functional imaging modality data, within the isolated region of the functional imaging modality data defined by the at least one image mask applied on the functional imaging modality data based on at least one predefined rule, said rule relying on a calculated activity of a radio labeled tracer within a spot in said respective image mask being larger than activity of an area surrounding the spot within the respective image mask by more than a predefined threshold;
• and
• guiding an ablation treatment to the located at least one GP for treating disease.

A system for identifying ANS components within an image of an intrabody volume of a patient, the system comprising:

• a non-transitory computer readable medium storing program instructions;
• at least one hardware processor in communication with said non-transitory computer readable medium, that when said instructions are executed by said at least one hardware processor, the execution causes said at least one hardware processor to:
• receive functional imaging modality data from a nuclear medicine functional imaging modality which images an intrabody volume of a patient having a body part containing nervous tissue, the nervous tissue includes at least one ganglionic plexus (GP), wherein the patient having been injected with a radio labeled imaging tracer agent having nervous tissue uptake by an autonomic nervous system (ANS);
• receive at least one image mask designed for isolating a region of the functional imaging modality data corresponding to the intrabody volume of the patient predicted to include at least one CUP that is not depicted within an anatomical image of the intrabody volume captured by an anatomical imaging modality;
• apply the at least one image mask to the functional imaging modality data to isolate the region corresponding to the intrabody volume predicted to include the at least one GP;
• acquire anatomical imaging modality data from an anatomical imaging modality which images an intrabody volume of the patient containing the body part;
• locate the nervous tissue in the intrabody volume within the isolated region of the functional imaging modality data defined by the at least one image mask applied on the functional imaging modality data based on at least one predefined rule, said rule relying on a calculated activity of a radio labeled tracer within a spot in said respective image mask being larger than activity of an area surrounding the spot within the respective image mask by more than a predefined threshold;
• overlay and/or register the located nervous tissue on the anatomical imaging modality data;
• and
• generate and output to display a combined image from said anatomical imaging modality data and said functional imaging modality data of the positioned nervous tissue.

A system for identifying ANS components within an image of an intrabody volume of a patient, the system comprising:

• a non-transitory computer readable medium storing program instructions;
• at least one hardware processor in communication with said non-transitory computer readable medium, that when said instructions are executed by said at least one hardware processor, the execution causes said at least one hardware processor to:
• receive functional imaging modality data from a nuclear medicine functional imaging modality which images an intrabody volume of a patient having a body part containing nervous tissue, the patient having been injected with a radio-labeled imaging tracer agent having nervous tissue uptake by an autonomic nervous system (ANS);
• acquire anatomical imaging modality data from an anatomical imaging modality which images an intrabody volume of the patient containing the body part;
• receive at least one image mask designed for isolating a region of the functional imaging modality data corresponding to the intrabody volume of the patient predicted to include nervous that is not differentially depicted within said anatomical imaging modality data;
• apply the at least one image mask to the functional imaging modality data to isolate the region corresponding to the intrabody volume predicted to include the nervous tissue;
• locate the nervous tissue in the intrabody volume based on the functional imaging modality data, within the isolated region of the functional imaging modality data defined by the at least one image mask applied on the functional imaging modality data based on at least one predefined rule, said rule relying on a calculated activity of a radio labeled tracer within a spot in said respective image mask being larger than activity of an area surrounding the spot within the respective image mask by more than a predefined threshold;
• receive an anatomical image from an anatomical imaging modality which images an intrabody volume of the patient containing the nervous tissue;
• combine the anatomical image with the functional image;
• and
• generate and output to display an ANS map comprising a distribution and/or activity of one or both of ANS synapses and ganglionic plexuses (GPs).

A system for guiding a body part treatment using a functional imaging of a nervous tissue, comprising:

• a non-transitory computer readable medium storing program instructions;
• at least one hardware processor in communication with said non-transitory computer readable medium, that when said instructions are executed by said at least one hardware processor, said execution causes said at least one hardware processor to:
• acquire functional imaging modality data from a nuclear medicine functional imaging modality which images an intrabody volume of a patient having a body part, the patient having been injected with a radio labeled tracer imaging agent having a nervous tissue uptake by an autonomic nervous system (ANS);
• receive at least one image mask designed for isolating a region of the functional imaging modality data corresponding to the intrabody volume of the patient predicted to include at least one ganglionic plexus (GP) that is not depicted within an anatomical image of the intrabody volume captured by an anatomical imaging modality;
• apply the at least one image mask to the functional imaging modality data to isolate the region corresponding to the intrabody volume predicted to include the at least one GP;
• locate the nervous tissue in the intrabody volume and at least one ganglionic plexus (GP) of the ANS within the isolated region of the functional imaging modality data defined by the least one image mask applied on the functional imaging modality data based on at least one predefined rule, said rule relying on a calculated activity of a radio labeled tracer within a spot in said respective image mask being larger than activity of an area surrounding the spot within the respective image mask by more than a predefined threshold;
• and
• guide an ablation treatment to the located at least one GP for treating disease;
• wherein said locating comprises locating at least one ganglionic plexus (GP) of the ANS having a size of between 1 and 20 millimeters (mm) in maximal diameter.