Automated anatomy delineation for image guided therapy planning
When delineating anatomical structures in a medical image of a patient for radiotherapy planning, a processor ( 18 ) detects landmarks ( 24 ) in a low-resolution image (e.g., MRI or low-dose CT) and maps the detected landmarks to reference landmarks ( 28 ) in a reference contour of the anatomical structure. The mapped landmarks facilitate adjusting the reference contour to fit the anatomical structure. The adjusted reference contour data is transformed and applied to a second image using a thin-plate spline, and the adjusted high-resolution image is used for radiotherapy planning.
1. A system that facilitates delineating anatomical features in images used for image-guided therapy planning, including:
an imaging device;
a therapy planning processor; and
an electronic processor programmed to:
map anatomical landmarks detected in an initial image received from the imaging device to reference landmarks in a reference contour corresponding to the anatomical structure;
adjust the reference contour to the anatomical structure based on mapped landmark pairs;
adjust a contour of the anatomical structure in a second image, received from the imaging device, of the anatomical structure using the adjusted reference contour; and
provide the adjusted second image to the 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 low-dose computerized tomography (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 low-resolution 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 the detected landmark position information is exported using a DICOM data transfer protocol.
8. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the therapy planning processor is programmed to generate at least one of a radiotherapy plan, an ultrasound therapy plan, a particle 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, with at least one computer processor:
mapping detected anatomical landmarks detected in an initial image to reference landmarks in a reference contour corresponding to the anatomical structure;
adjusting the reference contour to the anatomical structure based on the mapped landmark pairs;
adjusting a contour of the anatomical structure in a second image using the adjusted reference contour; and
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 a CT scanner, wherein the detected landmarks are soft-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 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:
mapping detected landmarks in a low-resolution image of the patient using at least one of a magnetic resonance imagine (MRI) device and a computed tomography (CT) scanner 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 non-transitory 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.