Estimation of alignment parameters in magnetic-resonance-guided ultrasound focusing
AssigneeInsightec, Ltd.
InventorsShuki Vitek, Rita Schmidt, Amir Seginer
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A magnetic-resonance-guided focused ultrasound system may be calibrated by generating ultrasound foci using ultrasound transducers, establishing coordinates of the foci and of magnetic-resonance trackers associated with the transducers, and determining a geometric relationship between the trackers and the transducers.
Claims19
A method for calibrating a magnetic-resonance-guided focused-ultrasound system, comprising:
- (a) providing a phased array of ultrasound transducers, the array having at least one magnetic resonance (MR) tracker associated therewith at a fixed relative position with respect thereto;
- (b) establishing MR coordinates of the MR trackers;
- (c) for each of a plurality of sonication schemes, (i) creating an ultrasound focus, and (ii) establishing parameters indicative of MR coordinates of the ultrasound focus;
- and,
- (d) based at least in part on the parameters, determining a geometric relationship between the ultrasound transducers and the MR trackers.
A method for operating a magnetic-resonance-guided focused-ultrasound system, comprising:
- (a) providing a phased array of ultrasound transducers, the array having at least one magnetic resonance (MR) tracker associated therewith at a fixed relative position with respect thereto;
- (b) establishing MR coordinates of the MR trackers;
- (c) for each of a plurality of sonication schemes, (i) creating an ultrasound focus, and (ii) establishing parameters indicative of MR coordinates of the ultrasound focus;
- (d) based at least in part on the parameters, determining a geometric relationship between the ultrasound transducers and the MR trackers;
- and
- (e) operating the magnetic-resonance-guided focused-ultrasound system by focusing ultrasound into a target region having MR coordinates, based on the geometric relationship.
A system for calibrating a magnetic-resonance-guided ultrasound-focusing system comprising:
- (a) a phased array of ultrasound transducers, the array having at least one magnetic resonance (MR) tracker associated therewith at a fixed relative position with respect thereto;
- (b) an MR imaging apparatus;
- and
- (c) a control facility for (i) driving the phased array according to a sonication scheme so as to generate an ultrasound focus, (ii) receiving MR imaging data indicative of MR coordinates of the ultrasound focus and the MR trackers, and (iii) determining a geometric relationship between the ultrasound transducers and the MR trackers based, at least in part, on the MR imaging data.
A magnetic-resonance-guided ultrasound-focusing system comprising:
- (a) a phased array of ultrasound transducers, the array having at least one magnetic resonance (MR) tracker associated therewith at a fixed relative position with respect thereto;
- (b) an MR imaging apparatus;
- (c) a user interface facilitating selection of a target region in MR coordinates;
- and
- (d) a control facility for (i) driving the phased array according to a sonication scheme so as to generate an ultrasound focus, (ii) receiving MR imaging data indicative of MR coordinates of the ultrasound focus and the MR trackers, (iii) determining a geometric relationship between the ultrasound transducers and the MR trackers based, at least in part, on the MR imaging data, and (iv) operating the magnetic-resonance-guided focused-ultrasound system by focusing ultrasound into the target region based on the geometric relationship.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.