Tracking a Part of a Surface of a Patient's Body Using Thermographic Images

1 . A system including memory and one or more processors operable to execute instructions stored in the memory, comprising instructions to:

acquire a three-dimensional image dataset;

acquire at least two two-dimensional image datasets, wherein each two-dimensional image dataset represents a two-dimensional thermographic image of at least a part of a surface of a patient's body which comprises a plurality of points and wherein the two-dimensional thermographic images are taken from different and known viewing directions;

determine, for each point in the plurality of points, the pixels in the two-dimensional image datasets which show said point on the surface of the patient's body; and

calculate, for each point in the plurality of points, a spatial location of the point from locations of the corresponding determined pixels in the two-dimensional image datasets and the viewing directions of the two-dimensional thermographic images; and

calculate alignment information which represents a virtual relative position between the three-dimensional image dataset and the locations of the plurality of points, such that the measured locations of the plurality of points lie on a contour of the body as represented by the three-dimensional image dataset.

2 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising instructions to:

calculate movement control data from the alignment information, and

cause, based on the movement control data, the patient's body to be moved into a position that is identical to a position at a time the three-dimensional image dataset was created.

3 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the movement control data describes how the patient's body has to be moved for the surface of the patient's body to match the contour of the patient's body as represented by the three-dimensional image dataset

4 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the position at the time the three-dimensional image dataset was created is a predetermined position relative to an accelerator for radiotherapy.

5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the three-dimensional image dataset is a CT or MR image dataset.

6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the two-dimensional thermographic images represent wavelengths having a predefined wavelength range between 8 μm and 14 μm.

7 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising instructions to:

filter the two-dimensional image datasets in order to discard pixels which represent wavelengths outside the predefined wavelength range.

8 . A computer implemented method, comprising:

acquiring a three-dimensional image dataset;

acquiring at least two two-dimensional image datasets, wherein each two-dimensional image dataset represents a two-dimensional thermographic image of at least a part of a surface of a patient's body which comprises a plurality of points and wherein the two-dimensional thermographic images are taken from different and known viewing directions;

determining, for each point in the plurality of points, the pixels in the two-dimensional image datasets which show said point on the surface of the patient's body; and

calculating, for each point in the plurality of points, the a spatial location of the point from the locations of the corresponding determined pixels in the two-dimensional image datasets and the viewing directions of the two-dimensional thermographic images; and

calculating alignment information which represents a virtual relative position between the three-dimensional image dataset and the locations of the plurality of points, such that the measured locations of the plurality of points lie on a contour of the body as represented by the three-dimensional image dataset.

9 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

calculating movement control data from the alignment information, and

causing, based on the movement control data, the patient's body to be moved into a position that is identical to a position at a time the three-dimensional image dataset was created.

10 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the movement control data describes how the patient's body has to be moved for the surface of the patient's body to match the contour of the patient's body as represented by the three-dimensional image dataset

11 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the position at the time the three-dimensional image dataset was created is a predetermined position relative to an accelerator for radiotherapy.

12 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the three-dimensional image dataset is a CT or MR image dataset.

13 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the two-dimensional thermographic images represent wavelengths having a predefined wavelength range between 8 μm and 14 μm.

14 . The system of claim 8 , further comprising:

filtering the two-dimensional image datasets in order to discard pixels which represent wavelengths outside the predefined wavelength range.

15 . A non-transitory computer-readable program storage medium comprising instructions which, when executed by at least one processor, causes the at least one processor to execute steps of:

acquiring a three-dimensional image dataset;

acquiring at least two two-dimensional image datasets, wherein each two-dimensional image dataset represents a two-dimensional thermographic image of at least a part of a surface of a patient's body which comprises a plurality of points and wherein the two-dimensional thermographic images are taken from different and known viewing directions;

determining, for each point in the plurality of points, the pixels in the two-dimensional image datasets which show said point on the surface of the patient's body;

calculating, for each point in the plurality of points, the a spatial location of the point from the locations of the corresponding determined pixels in the two-dimensional image datasets and the viewing directions of the two-dimensional thermographic images; and

calculating alignment information which represents a virtual relative position between the three-dimensional image dataset and the locations of the plurality of points, such that the measured locations of the plurality of points lie on a contour of the body as represented by the three-dimensional image dataset.

16 . The non-transitory computer-readable program storage medium of claim 15 , further comprising instructions which, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to execute further steps of:

calculating movement control data from the alignment information; and

causing, based on the movement control data, the patient's body to be moved into a position that is identical to a position at a time the three-dimensional image dataset was created.

17 . The non-transitory computer-readable program storage medium of claim 16 , wherein the movement control data describes how the patient's body has to be moved for the surface of the patient's body to match the contour of the patient's body as represented by the three-dimensional image dataset

18 . The non-transitory computer-readable program storage medium of claim 16 , wherein the position at the time the three-dimensional image dataset was created is a predetermined position relative to an accelerator for radiotherapy.

19 . The non-transitory computer-readable program storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the three-dimensional image dataset is a CT or MR image dataset.

20 . The non-transitory computer-readable program storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the two-dimensional thermographic images represent wavelengths between 8 μm and 14 μm.