IP Library Granted Patent US 11,844,961
Granted Patent B2
US 11,844,961 · App. 17/123,594 · Granted Dec 19, 2023

Method for providing result data which is suitable for use in planning the irradiation of a patient

Inventors: Christopher Jude Amies (Sykesville, MD); Christian Hofmann (Erlangen, DE); Philipp Hoelzer (Bubenreuth, DE); Mark-Aleksi Keller-Reichenbecher (Sandhausen, DE); Bjoern Kreisler (Hausen, DE); Andre Ritter (Neunkirchen am Brand, DE); Rene Kartmann (Nuremberg, DE)
Assignee: Siemens Healthcare GmbH
A61N5/1031A61N5/1039A61N5/1071A61N2005/1061
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,844,961
App. No.
17/123,594
Granted
Dec 19, 2023
Kind
B2
Abstract

Computed tomography (CT) measurement data of the patient is acquired using a CT device having a quantum counting X-ray detector, and the CT measurement data is processed to generate result data, considering a specific information content of the CT measurement data resulting from the use of the quantum counting X-ray detector in acquiring the CT measurement data. The result data is suitable for use in the planning of irradiation of the patient. The result data is provisioned to an interface such that the result data is usable for planning the irradiation of the patient.

Claims (126)

1. A method for provisioning result data suitable for planning an irradiation of a patient, the method comprising:

acquiring CT measurement data of the patient via a CT device having a quantum counting X-ray detector, the acquiring of the CT measurement data including acquiring high-resolution CT measurement date by the quantum counting X-ray detector, wherein

a high-resolution mode of the quantum counting X-ray detector is used for the acquiring of the high-resolution CT measurement data, and

each pixel of the quantum counting X-ray detector is counted separately in the high-resolution mode;

processing the CT measurement data to generate result data for the planning of the irradiation of the patient, wherein

the processing of the CT measurement data is based on an information content of the CT measurement data resulting from use of the quantum counting X-ray detector in the acquiring of the CT measurement data; and

provisioning the result data to an interface for the planning of the irradiation of the patient.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:

retrieving the result data from the interface; and

planning the irradiation of the patient based on the result data.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein

the acquiring of the CT measurement data includes acquiring spectrally resolved CT measurement data,

the processing of the CT measurement data includes calculating a spatially resolved distribution of a quantitative material coefficient from the spectrally resolved CT measurement data, and

the provisioning of the result data includes provisioning the spatially resolved distribution of the quantitative material coefficient to the interface.

4. The method as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the calculating of the spatially resolved distribution includes

calculating a first spatially resolved distribution of a first quantitative material coefficient and a second spatially resolved distribution of a second quantitative material coefficient based on the spectrally resolved CT measurement data.

5. The method as claimed in claim 4 , wherein

the first quantitative material coefficient and the second quantitative material coefficient are based on two base materials, and

the two base materials are linearly independent of each other.

6. The method as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the acquiring of the CT measurement data includes

loading the spectrally resolved CT measurement data from a database.

7. The method as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the spectrally resolved CT measurement data covers a field of view, the field of view including the entire body of the patient and positioning aids supporting the patient in an axial measuring layer.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein

the processing of the CT measurement data includes identifying at least one of a target volume or a risk volume in the CT measurement data, and

the provisioning of the result data includes provisioning the at least one of the target volume or the risk volume to the interface.

9. The method as claimed in claim 8 , wherein the identifying includes

differentiating a tissue of the at least one of the target volume or the risk volume from surrounding tissue, the differentiating of the tissue of the at least one of a target volume or risk volume from the surrounding tissue being based on the information content of the CT measurement data resulting from using the quantum counting X-ray detector in the acquiring of the CT measurement data.

10. The method as claimed in claim 8 , wherein the identifying of the at least one of the target volume or the risk volume includes

differentiating adipose tissue and muscle tissue, wherein

the differentiating of the adipose tissue and the muscle tissue is based on the information content of the CT measurement data resulting from using the quantum counting X-ray detector in the acquiring of the CT measurement data.

11. The method as claimed in claim 8 , wherein the identifying of the at least one of the target volume or the risk volume includes

differentiating gray matter and white matter based on the information content of the CT measurement data resulting from using the quantum counting X-ray detector in the acquiring of the CT measurement data.

12. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein

the processing of the CT measurement data includes calculating a spatially resolved distribution of a quantitative material coefficient from the high-resolution CT measurement data, and

the provisioning of the result data includes provisioning the spatially resolved distribution of the quantitative material coefficient to the interface.

13. The method as claimed in claim 12 , wherein

the calculating of the spatially resolved distribution of the quantitative material coefficient for a bone tissue of the patient in unaltered form is based on the high-resolution CT measurement data, and

the calculating of the spatially resolved distribution of the quantitative material coefficient for a soft tissue of the patient in a reduced resolution is based on the high-resolution CT measurement data.

14. The method as claimed in claim 13 , further comprising:

filtering the high-resolution CT measurement data using a filter kernel to generate the reduced resolution.

15. The method as claimed in claim 12 , wherein

the calculating of the spatially resolved distribution of the quantitative material coefficient includes calculating the spatially resolved distribution of a stopping power from the high-resolution CT measurement data, and

the provisioning the result data includes provisioning the spatially resolved distribution of the stopping power for planning a particle irradiation of the patient.

16. The method as claimed in claim 12 , wherein

the calculating of the spatially resolved distribution includes calculating the spatially resolved distribution of the quantitative material coefficient from the high-resolution CT measurement data for at least one of

an eye region of the patient,

a body region including the trigeminal nerve of the patient,

a skull base of the patient, or

a lung region of the patient.

17. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the acquiring of the CT measurement data of the patient includes

changing a detector parameter of the quantum counting X-ray detector during the acquiring of the CT measurement data.

18. The method as claimed in claim 17 , further comprising:

changing an energy threshold of the quantum counting X-ray detector during the acquiring of the CT measurement data.

19. The method as claimed in claim 17 , further comprising:

changing a resolution of the quantum counting X-ray detector with regard to a combination of pixels of the quantum counting X-ray detector during the acquiring of the CT measurement data.

20. The method as claimed in claim 17 , wherein

the changing of the detector parameter includes changing the detector parameter of the quantum counting X-ray detector during the acquiring of the CT measurement data such that a first setting of the detector parameter is set for acquiring the CT measurement data at a first z-position along a longitudinal direction of the patient, and a second setting of the detector parameter is set for acquiring the CT measurement data at a second z-position along the longitudinal direction of the patient.

21. The method as claimed in claim 17 , wherein

the changing of the detector parameter includes changing the detector parameter of the quantum counting X-ray detector during the acquiring of the CT measurement data such that a first setting of the detector parameter is set for acquiring the CT measurement data in a first rotational position of a detector-emitter system of the CT device, and a second setting of the detector parameter is set for acquiring the CT measurement data in a second rotational position of the detector-emitter system of the CT device.

22. The method as claimed in claim 17 , wherein

the changing of the detector parameter includes changing the detector parameter of the quantum counting X-ray detector during the acquiring of the CT measurement data such that a first setting of the detector parameter is set for acquiring the CT measurement data of a first body region of the patient, and a second setting of the detector parameter is set for acquiring the CT measurement data of a second body region of the patient.

23. The method as claimed in claim 22 , further comprising:

establishing the first body region and the second body region using at least one of existing medical image data of the patient or an Atlas database.

24. The method as claimed in claim 22 , wherein

the first body region includes a target volume of the irradiation, and

the second body region includes a body region outside the target volume of the irradiation.

25. The method as claimed in claim 22 , wherein

the first body region is a region of the patient in a beam region during the irradiation of the patient, and

the second body region is a region of the patient outside the beam region during the irradiation of the patient.

26. The method as claimed in claim 22 , wherein the first body region receives a higher radiation dose than the second body region during the irradiation of the patient.

27. The method as claimed in claim 22 , wherein

the changing of the detector parameter includes changing the detector parameter of the quantum counting X-ray detector during the acquiring of the CT measurement data such that a higher resolution of the quantum counting X-ray detector is set for the acquiring of the CT measurement data from the first body region of the patient than for the acquiring of the CT measurement data from the second body region of the patient.

28. The method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:

acquiring, via the interface, further measurement data, the further measurement data being acquired by an imaging device of a radiotherapy device used for the irradiation of the patient, wherein

the result data is adjusted based on the further measurement data for the planning of the irradiation of the patient.

29. The method as claimed in claim 28 , wherein

the imaging device of the radiotherapy device has a quantum counting X-ray detector,

the result data is adjusted based on the further measurement data using the information content of the CT measurement data and information content of the further measurement data resulting from using the quantum counting X-ray detector in the acquiring of the further measurement data.

30. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein

the CT measurement data includes at least two CT measurement data sets acquired at different times,

the at least two CT measurement data sets are registered using the information content of the CT measurement data resulting from using the quantum counting X-ray detector in the acquiring of the CT measurement data, and

the at least two CT measurement data sets are available to the interface.

31. The method as claimed claim 1 , wherein

a contrast media is used during the acquiring of the CT measurement data, and

the processing of the CT measurement data includes a material decomposition of the CT measurement data in tissue having the contrast media and other tissue using the information content of the CT measurement data.

32. The method as claimed claim 1 , wherein

a contrast media is used during the acquiring of the CT measurement data, and

the processing of the CT measurement data includes creating a virtual non-contrasted CT image using the information content of the CT measurement data.

33. An arithmetic unit, comprising:

at least one calculation module, the arithmetic unit being configured to execute the method as claimed in claim 1 .

34. A CT device, comprising:

the arithmetic unit as claimed in claim 33 .

35. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a programmable arithmetic unit, cause the programmable arithmetic unit to execute the method as claimed in claim 1 .

36. A method for provisioning result data suitable for planning an irradiation of a patient, the method comprising:

acquiring CT measurement data of the patient via a CT device having a quantum counting X-ray detector, the acquiring of the CT measurement date including acquiring spectrally resolved CT measurement data;

processing the CT measurement data to generate result data for the planning of the irradiation of the patient, the processing of the CT measurement data including

calculating a first spatially resolved distribution of a first quantitative material coefficient and a second spatially resolved distribution of a second quantitative material coefficient based on the spectrally resolved CT measurement data,

processing the first spatially resolved distribution of the first quantitative material coefficient to generate first partial result data,

processing the second spatially resolved distribution of the second quantitative material coefficient to generate second partial result data, wherein

the processing of the CT measurement date is based on an information content of the CT measurement data resulting from use of the quantum counting X-ray detector in the acquiring of the CT measurement date, and

generating the result data by combining the first partial result data and the second partial result data; and

provision the result data to an interface for the planning of the irradiation of the patient, the provisioning of the result data including provisioning the first spatially resolved distribution of the first quantitative material coefficient and the second spatially resolved distribution of the second quantitative material coefficient.

37. A method for provisioning result data suitable for planning an irradiation of a patient, the method comprising:

acquiring CT measurement date of the patient via a CT device having a quantum counting X-ray detector, the acquiring of the CT measurement data including acquiring spectrally resolved CT measurement data;

processing the CT measurement data to generate result date for the planning of the irradiation of the patient, the processing of the CT measurement data including

a beam hardening correction of the spectrally resolved CT measurement data using spectral information included in the spectrally resolved CT measurement data, and

identifying at least one of a target volume or a risk volume in the CT measurement data, the identifying of the at least one of the target volume or the risk volume including differentiating bone structures in the spectrally resolved CT measurement data corrected by the beam hardening correction, and wherein

the processing of the CT measurement data is based on an information content of the CT measurement data resulting from use of the quantum counting X-ray detector in the acquiring of the CT measurement data; and

provisioning the result data to an interface for the planning of the irradiation of the patient, the provisioning of the result data including provisioning the at least one of the target volume or the risk volume to the interface.

38. The method as claimed in claim 37 , further comprising:

differentiating bone structures in a skull base region of the patient from each other.

39. A method for provisioning result data suitable for planning an irradiation of a patient, the method comprising:

acquiring CT measurement data of the patient via a CT device having a quantum counting X-ray detector, the CT measurement data including a first CT measurement data set and a second CT measurement data set, the first CT measurement data set being acquired by a higher energy threshold of the quantum counting X-ray detector than the second CT measurement data set;

processing the CT measurement data to generate result data for the planning of the irradiation of the patient, the processing of the CT measurement data including

generating combined CT measurement data by creating a weighted combination of the first CT measurement data set and the second CT measurement data set, and

identifying at least one of a target volume or risk volume in the CT measurement data based on the combined CT measurement data, and wherein

the processing of the CT measurement data is based on an information content of the CT measurement data resulting from use of the quantum counting X-ray detector in the acquiring of the CT measurement data; and

provisioning the result data to an interface for the planning of the irradiation of the patient, the provisioning of the result data including provisioning the at least one of the target volume or the risk volume to the interface.

40. The method as claimed in claim 39 , wherein

the processing of the CT measurement data includes

extracting information for a beam hardening correction from the first CT measurement data set, and

performing a beam hardening correction of the combined CT measurement data based on the information, wherein

the identifying of the at least one of the target volume or the risk volume is based on the combined CT measurement data corrected by the beam hardening correction.

41. The method as claimed in claim 39 , wherein the creating a weighted combination of the first CT measurement data set and the second CT measurement data is performed using spatially varying weighting factors.

42. The method as claimed in claim 41 , wherein the spatially varying weighting factors are defined by the at least one of a target volume or risk volume, and

a fine identification of the at least one of a target volume or risk volume takes place in the combined CT measurement data.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Dec 20, 2023
From: SIEMENS HEALTHCARE GMBH
To: SIEMENS HEALTHINEERS AG
Reel/Frame 066267/0346 →
Continuity (3)
Continuation 16640960
Provisional Application 62549175 · Aug 23, 2017
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