Method for estimating radiation exposure of a patient and radiation exposure monitoring system thereof

A radiation exposure monitoring system comprising a signal processing module arranged to:

• obtain radiation exposure information relating to a plurality of procedures, the plurality of procedures comprising at least one diagnostic imaging procedure for which there exists a potential exposure of the patient to radiation and/or at least one radiation therapy procedure, wherein the obtained radiation exposure information comprises:
• anatomical images associated with the plurality of procedures for which radiation exposure information is obtained;
• and
• information from which radiation doses may be estimated for the plurality of procedures;
• perform anatomical alignment of the obtained radiation exposure information to at least one three dimensional (3-D) reference image comprising three dimensional (3-D) voxels;
• wherein performing the anatomical alignment comprises aligning, by an image registration algorithm, the anatomical images associated with the plurality of procedures to the at least one 3-D reference image, the at least one 3-D reference image comprising at least one of the anatomical images associated with the plurality of procedures for which radiation exposure information is obtained;
• estimate a radiation dose per procedure based on the information from which radiation doses may be estimated for the plurality of procedures;
• and
• calculate anatomically localised aggregated radiation doses for at least a region of the 3-D reference image based at least partly on the anatomical alignment of the obtained radiation exposure information and the estimated radiation doses for the at least a region of the 3-D reference image, and corresponding regions of the anatomically aligned anatomical images.

An integrated circuit comprising a signal processing module arranged to:

• obtain radiation exposure information relating to a plurality of procedures, the plurality of procedures comprising at least one diagnostic imaging procedure for which there exists a potential exposure of the patient to radiation and/or at least one radiation therapy procedure, wherein the obtained radiation exposure information comprises:
• anatomical images associated with the plurality of procedures for which radiation exposure information is obtained;
• and
• information from which radiation doses may be estimated for the plurality of procedures;
• perform anatomical alignment of the obtained radiation exposure information to at least one three dimensional (3-D) reference image comprising three dimensional (3-D) voxels;
• wherein performing the anatomical alignment comprises aligning, by an image registration algorithm, the anatomical images associated with the plurality of procedures to the at least one 3-D reference image, the at least one 3-D reference image comprising at least one of the anatomical images associated with the plurality of procedures for which radiation exposure information is obtained;
• estimate a radiation dose per procedure, based on the information from which radiation doses may be estimated for the plurality of procedures;
• and
• calculate anatomically localised aggregated radiation doses for at least a region of the 3-D reference image based at least partly on the anatomical alignment of the obtained radiation exposure information and the estimated radiation doses for the at least a region of the 3-D reference image, and corresponding regions of the anatomically aligned anatomical images.

A tangible computer program product having executable program code stored therein for programming signal processing logic to perform a method for estimating radiation exposure of a patient, the program code operable for, when executed at a computer system:

• obtaining radiation exposure information relating to a plurality procedures, the plurality of procedures comprising at least one diagnostic imaging procedure for which there exists a potential exposure of the patent to radiation and/or at least one radiation therapy procedure, wherein the obtained radiation exposure information comprises:
• anatomical images associated with the plurality of procedures for which radiation exposure information is obtained;
• and
• information from which radiation doses may be estimated for the plurality of procedures;
• performing anatomical alignment of the obtained radiation exposure information to at least one three dimensional (3-D) reference image comprising three dimensional (3-D) voxels;
• wherein performing the anatomical alignment comprises aligning, by an image registration algorithm, the anatomical images associated with the plurality of procedures to the at least one 3-D reference image, the at least one 3-D reference image comprising at least one of the anatomical images associated with the plurality of procedures for which radiation exposure information is obtained;
• estimating a radiation dose per procedure based on the information from which radiation doses may be estimated for the plurality of procedures;
• and
• calculating anatomically localised aggregated radiation doses for at least a region of the 3-D reference image based at least partly on the anatomical alignment of the obtained radiation exposure information and the estimated radiation doses for the at least a region of the 3-D reference image, and corresponding regions of the anatomically aligned anatomical images.