Method and apparatus for target position verification
AssigneeNomos Corporation
InventorsMark P. Carol, Robert C. Campbell, Brian S. Rosen, Richard E. Huber, Richard V. Nash
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method and apparatus for verifying the position of a target to be treated by a radiation therapy device may include an ultrasound probe used to generate ultrasound images of the target; a position sensing system for indicating the position of the ultrasound probe with respect to the radiation therapy device, whereby the location of the target with respect to the radiation therapy device is known; and the ultrasound image of the target may be aligned with radiation treatment data.
Claims39
A method for verifying the position of a target within a body of a patient for use in a radiation treatment plan which includes at least two two-dimensional representations of treatment plan data corresponding to the target, comprising the steps of:
- (a) disposing the patient on a treatment table of a radiation therapy device;
- (b) providing an ultrasound probe mounted to a 3-D digitizer articulated arm;
- (c) generating at least two two-dimensional ultrasound images of the target in the patient's body, with the ultrasound probe being disposed in a known geometric orientation for each ultrasound image generated with the ultrasound probe disposed outside the body of the patient;
- (d) displaying the ultrasound images of the target;
- (e) displaying the representations of treatment plan data;
- (f) aligning the displayed representations of treatment plan data with the displayed ultrasound images;
- and
- (g) determining an amount and type of movement of the treatment table and/or radiation therapy device and/or patient required to dispose the target, with respect to the radiation therapy device, to conform to the desired position of the target in the radiation treatment plan.
A target position verification system for use by a user with a radiation therapy device for treating a target within a body of a patient and with a radiation treatment plan which includes at least two two-dimensional representations of treatment plan data with the location of the target in the representations of the treatment plan data being known, comprising:
- (a) an ultrasound probe for generating at least two two-dimensional ultrasound images of the target;
- (b) a position sensing system for indicating the position of the ultrasound probe with respect to the radiation therapy device, the position sensing system including a 3-D digitizer articulated arm having a first and a second end and the ultrasound probe is mounted to the first end of the 3-D digitizer articulated arm, whereby the location of the target with respect to the radiation therapy device is known;
- and
- (c) a computer having a monitor associated therewith, adapted to:
- (i) display on the monitor the ultrasound images of the target;
- (ii) display on the monitor the representations of treatment plan data;
- (iii) in response to user input, align the representations of treatment plan data with the ultrasound images;
- and
- (iv) in response to the alignment, determine the difference between the location of the target in the ultrasound images and the location of the target in the representations of treatment plan data.
A method for verifying the position of a target within a body of a patient for use in a radiation treatment plan which includes at least two two-dimensional representations of treatment plan data corresponding to the target, comprising the steps of:
- (a) disposing the patient on a treatment table of a radiation therapy device;
- (b) providing an ultrasound image generator mounted to a 3-D digitizer articulated arm;
- (c) generating at least two two-dimensional ultrasound images of the target in the patient's body, with the ultrasound image generator being disposed in a known geometric orientation for each ultrasound image generated with the ultrasound generator disposed outside the body of the patient;
- (d) displaying the ultrasound images of the target;
- (e) displaying the representations of treatment plan data;
- (f) aligning the displayed representations of treatment plan data with the displayed ultrasound images;
- and
- (g) determining an amount and type of movement of the treatment table and/or radiation therapy device and/or patient required to dispose the target, with respect to the radiation therapy device, to conform to the desired position of the target in the radiation treatment plan.
A target position verification system for use by a user with a radiation therapy device for treating a target within a body of a patient and with a radiation treatment plan which includes at least one two-dimensional representation of treatment plan data with the location of the target in the at least one representation of the treatment plan data being known, comprising:
- (a) an ultrasound probe for generating at least one two-dimensional ultrasound images of the target;
- (b) a position sensing system for indicating the position of the ultrasound probe with respect to the radiation therapy device, the position sensing system including a 3-D digitizer articulated arm having a first and a second end and the ultrasound probe is mounted to the first end of the 3-D digitizer articulated arm whereby the location of the target with respect to the radiation therapy device is known;
- and
- (c) a computer having a monitor associated therewith, adapted to:
- (i) display on the monitor the at least one ultrasound image of the target;
- (ii) display on the monitor the at least one representation of treatment plan data;
- (iii) in response to user input, align the representation of treatment plan data with the ultrasound image;
- and
- (iv) in response to the alignment, determine the difference between the location of the target in the ultrasound images and the location of the target in the representations of treatment plan data.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.