Automated anatomy delineation for image guided therapy planning

1. A system that facilitates delineating anatomical features in images used for image-guided therapy planning, including:

a medical imaging workstation comprising a computer processor configured to:

receive an initial image of an anatomical structure in a patient from an imaging device;

detect anatomical landmarks in the initial image, the detected landmarks being at least one of hard-tissue landmarks and soft-tissue landmarks;

compare positions of the detected anatomical landmarks with reference landmarks in a reference contour corresponding to the anatomical structure;

map the detected anatomical landmarks to the reference landmarks;

adjust the reference contour to the anatomical structure based on mapped landmark pairs;

adjust a contour of the anatomical structure in a second image of the anatomical structure using the adjusted reference contour;

store an adjusted second image to a memory; and

provide the adjusted second image to a therapy planning processor.

2. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the reference contour is adjusted using a thin-plate spline.

3. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the initial image is a CT image generated by a CT scanner.

4. The system according to claim 3 , wherein the detected landmarks are hard-tissue landmarks.

5. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the initial image is a magnetic resonance (MR) image generated by an MR imaging (MRI) device.

6. The system according to claim 5 , wherein the detected landmarks are soft-tissue landmarks.

7. The system according to claim 1 , wherein detected landmark position information is exported using a DICOM data transfer protocol.

8. The system according to claim 1 , further comprising a therapy planning computer processor configured to execute computer-executable instructions for generating at least one of a radiotherapy plan, an ultrasound therapy plan, a particle beam therapy plan, an ablation therapy plan, and a physical therapy plan based at least in part on information contained in the adjusted second image.

9. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the initial image and the second image are generated using different imaging modalities.

10. The system according to claim 9 , wherein the initial image is generated using at least one of a computed tomography (CT) scanner and a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) device, and wherein the second image is generated using at least one of the CT scanner, the MRI device, and a nuclear imaging device.

11. A method of delineating anatomical features in images used for image-guided therapy planning, including:

via a computer processor in a medical imaging workstation:

detecting anatomical landmarks of an anatomical structure in an initial image, the detected landmarks being at least one of hard-tissue landmarks and soft-tissue landmarks;

comparing positions of the detected anatomical landmarks with reference landmarks in a reference contour corresponding to the anatomical structure;

mapping the detected anatomical landmarks to the reference landmarks;

adjusting the reference contour to the anatomical structure based on the mapped landmark pairs;

adjusting, via a processor, a contour of the anatomical structure in a second image using the adjusted reference contour;

outputting the adjusted second image to a therapy plan processor; and

via a therapy planning device, generating a therapy plan based at least in part on the adjusted second image.

12. The method according to claim 11 , further including at least one of:

displaying at least one of the initial image and the second image on a display;

storing at least one of the initial image and the second image to a memory; and

storing the therapy plan to the memory.

13. The method according to claim 11 , further including:

adjusting the reference contour using a thin-plate spline.

14. The method according to claim 11 , further including:

generating the initial image with CT scanner, wherein the detected landmarks are hard-tissue landmarks.

15. The method according to claim 11 , further including:

generating the initial image with an MRI device, wherein the detected landmarks are soft-tissue landmarks.

16. The method according to claim 11 , further including:

generating at least one of a radiotherapy plan, an ultrasound therapy plan, a particle beam therapy plan, an ablation therapy plan, and a physical therapy plan based at least in part on information contained in the adjusted second image.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium carrying a computer program that controls one or more computers to perform the method according to claim 11 .

18. A therapy-planning workstation including a processor programmed to perform the method according to claim 11 .

19. A non-transitory computer-readable medium that stores computer-executable instructions for generating a therapy plan for a patient, for execution by a processor, the instructions including:

generating a low-resolution image of a patient using at least one of a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) device and a computed tomography (CT) scanner;

detecting landmarks on an anatomical structure in low-resolution image;

mapping the detected landmarks to reference landmarks in a reference contour stored in a memory;

employing one or more thin-plate splines to adjust the reference contour to fit a contour of the anatomical structure using the mapped landmarks;

applying the adjusted reference contour to a second image of the anatomical structure to adjust the second image; and

generating a radiotherapy plan based at least in part on the adjusted second image.

20. The computer-readable medium according to claim 19 , the instructions further comprising:

generating the second image using at least one of the CT scanner, the MRI device and a nuclear scanner;

wherein the second image is generated using a different imaging modality than the low-resolution image.