Planning and navigation in superselective drug delivery via the tracheobronchial airway

A method for providing tumor treatment plan within a respiratory tract using a drug-delivery catheter configured to create a treatment chamber distal to a treatment position in a respiratory airway and circulate chemotherapeutic drug solution within the treatment chamber, the method comprising:

• accessing, by at least one processing unit programmed with computer program instructions, image data acquired by non-invasive imaging of a lower respiratory tract of a patient;
• creating, by the at least one processing unit according to the image data, a digital map identifying one or more lung cancer tumors and one or more respiratory airways;
• selecting, by the at least one processing unit, one or more identified respiratory airways of the one or more respiratory airways that are proximate to or overlapping the one or more lung cancer tumors;
• identifying, by the at least one processing unit, according to an analysis of the digital map, defined treatment positions in the one or more respiratory airways for delivery of the chemotherapeutic drug solution to one or more treatment chambers defined by the drug-delivery catheter within the one or more respiratory airways, wherein the one or more treatment chambers are defined as the respective respiratory tracts distal of the defined treatment positions,
• determining, by the at least one processing unit, one or more tumor treatment zones for permeation of the chemotherapeutic drug solution into lung tissue surrounding the treatment chamber when the chemotherapeutic drug solution is delivered to the one or more treatment zones, wherein the one or more tumor treatment zones are defined as the lung tissue surrounding the entire portion of the one or more distal respiratory airways distal of the defined treatment positions in the one or more respiratory airways;
• comparing, by the at least one processing unit the one or more tumor treatment zones to the one or more lung cancer tumors to determine whether the one or more treatment zones exceed the margins of the one or more lung cancer tumors;
• backtracking, by the at least one processing unit, the defined treatment positions to successively more proximal positions within the one or more respiratory airways to include additional airways and increase the size of the one or more treatment zones until the one or more treatment zones associated with the defined treatment positions exceed the margins the one or more lung cancer tumors;
• generating, by the at least one processing unit, a treatment plan according to the defined treatment positions, and
• carrying out the treatment plan via the drug-delivery catheter by delivering the chemotherapeutic drug solution at the defined treatment positions.