PAE treatment for BPH

1. A method of guiding a catheter during an embolization operation for a lesion, the method comprising:

receiving volume data of a patient volume, the patient volume including the lesion and a feeding vessel for the lesion;

defining, with a processor, a margin around the lesion in the volume data, wherein defining the margin comprises determining, with the processor, a margin boundary extended outward a distance from a boundary of the lesion;

detecting, with the processor, the feeding vessel in the volume data;

defining, with the processor, a vessel connection path for the feeding vessel, the vessel connection path connecting first and second points in the volume data, the second point being disposed along the feeding vessel within the margin boundary;

receiving, via an x-ray imaging system, fluoroscopic projection data of the patient volume and the catheter, the fluoroscopic projection data being generated by the x-ray imaging system; and

displaying, on a display device, an image of the patient volume and the catheter via the fluoroscopic projection data with an overlay during the embolization operation, the overlay comprising the vessel connection path for the feeding vessel;

wherein detecting the feeding vessel comprises detecting, with the processor, the second point via analysis of the volume data.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising detecting a position of a catheter tip in the volume data, wherein the first point in the volume data is the position of the catheter tip.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

displaying a representation of the volume data; and

receiving a user specification of a position in the displayed representation indicative of a point along an artery for the feeding vessel, wherein the first point in the volume data corresponds with the position of the received user specification.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein detecting the feeding vessel comprises implementing a segmentation procedure to define a representation of the lesion in the volume data.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein detecting the feeding vessel further comprises:

generating a histogram analysis of the volume data; and

detecting the feeding vessel in the volume data based on the histogram analysis.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein defining the margin comprises implementing a segmentation procedure to define a representation of the lesion in the volume data, and wherein detecting the feeding vessel is implemented on a pre-segmentation representation of the volume data.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein defining the vessel connection path comprises implementing a region growing procedure.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

acquiring scan data of the patient volume during the embolization operation; and

registering the received volume data to a coordinate system of the acquired scan data.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

detecting the feeding vessel comprises detecting the feeding vessel within the margin of the lesion; and

the margin is defined based on the boundary of the lesion and a diameter of the lesion such that the distance is determined in a relative manner based on the diameter of the lesion.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

defining the margin comprises implementing a segmentation procedure to define a segmented representation of the lesion in the volume data;

the margin is defined based on results of the segmentation procedure; and

the overlay further comprises the segmented representation of the lesion.

11. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored therein data representing instructions executable by a programmed processor for guiding a catheter during an embolization operation for a lesion, the instructions comprising computer code to:

receive volume data of a patient volume, the patient volume including the lesion and a feeding vessel for the lesion;

determine a margin boundary extended outward a distance from a boundary of the lesion to define a margin around the lesion in the volume data;

detect the feeding vessel in the volume data;

define a vessel connection path for the feeding vessel, the vessel connection path connecting first and second points in the volume data, the first point being disposed along an artery for the feeding vessel and the second point being disposed along the feeding vessel within the margin boundary;

receive, via an x-ray imaging system, fluoroscopic projection data of the patient volume and the catheter, the fluoroscopic projection data being generated by the x-ray imaging system; and

render an image from the fluoroscopic projection data of the patient volume and the catheter during the embolization operation, the image additionally comprising the vessel connection paths for the feeding vessel;

wherein the computer code to detect the feeding vessel is configured to detect the second point via analysis of the volume data.

12. The computer readable storage medium of claim 11 , the instructions comprising further computer code to detect a position of a catheter tip in the volume data, wherein the first point in the volume data is the position of the catheter tip.

13. The computer readable storage medium of claim 11 , the instructions comprising further computer code to:

display a representation of the volume data; and

receive a user specification of a position in the displayed representation indicative of a point along an artery for the feeding vessel, wherein the first point in the volume data corresponds with the position of the received user specification.

14. The computer readable storage medium of claim 11 wherein the instructions to detect the feeding vessel are configured to:

generate a histogram analysis of the volume data; and

detect the feeding vessel in the volume data based on the histogram analysis.

15. The computer readable storage medium of claim 14 , wherein the instructions to define the margin comprises further computer code to implement a segmentation procedure to define a representation of the lesion in the volume data, and wherein the instructions to detect the feeding vessel are implemented on a pre-segmentation representation of the volume data.

16. The computer readable storage medium of claim 14 wherein the instructions to define the vessel connection path comprises implementing a region growing procedure.

17. The computer readable storage medium of claim 11 , the instructions comprising further computer code to:

receive scan data of the patient volume during the embolization operation; and

register the received volume data to a coordinate system of the acquired scan data.

18. The computer readable storage medium of claim 11 , wherein the margin around the lesion is defined based on a segmentation of the volume data, and wherein the margin along the feeding vessel is defined based on the boundary of the lesion and a diameter of the lesion such that the distance is determined in a relative manner based on the diameter of the lesion.

19. A system for guiding a catheter during an embolization operation for a lesion, the system comprising:

a memory in which volume data of a patient volume is stored;

an x-ray imaging system operable to generate fluoroscopic projection data for the patient volume and the catheter;

a processor configured to define a vessel connection path for a feeding vessel for the lesion and to render a representation of the patient volume and the catheter via the fluoroscopic projection data, the representation comprising the vessel connection path; and

a display operable to display the representation during the embolization operation;

wherein the processor is further configured to determine a margin boundary extended outward a distance from a boundary of the lesion to define a margin around the lesion in the volume data, and to detect the feeding vessel in the volume data, the vessel connection path connecting first and second points in the volume data, the first point being disposed along an artery for the feeding vessel and the second point being disposed along the feeding vessel within the margin boundary;

wherein the processor is configured to detect the second point in the volume data via analysis of the volume data.

20. The system of claim 19 , wherein the x-ray imaging system comprises a C-arm unit.

21. The system of claim 19 , wherein the x-ray imaging system is configured to implement three-dimensional rotation scans and to generate the volume data.

22. The system of claim 19 , further comprising a computed tomography (CT) imaging system or a magnetic resonance (MR) imaging system, the CT or MR imaging system being operable to generate the volume data.

23. The system of claim 22 , wherein:

the x-ray imaging system is configured to generate scan data of the patient volume; and

the processor is configured to register the volume data to a coordinate system of the scan data.

24. The system of claim 19 , wherein:

the processor is configured to detect the feeding vessel within the margin of the lesion; and

the margin is based on the boundary of the lesion and a diameter of the lesion such that the distance is determined in a relative manner based on the diameter of the lesion.