Granted Patent B2

US 12,620,468 · App. 19/072,965 · Granted May 5, 2026

Inventors: Dipankar Ghosh (Irvine, CA); John Carl Hoefs (Irvine, CA)

G16H20/10A61P1/16G16H30/20G16H50/30G01N2800/085

Abstract

Claims (52)

1 . A system for increasing the overall survival for a liver disease patient, the system comprising:

a functional scanner configured to generate functional image data of a liver of the patient;

an image storage device in communication with the functional scanner, the image storage device being configured to receive and store the functional image data of the liver of the patient from the functional scanner;

a memory configured to store specific computer-executable instructions; and

one or more hardware computer processors in communication with the memory and configured to execute the specific computer-executable instructions to at least:

receive the functional image data of the liver of the patient from the image storage device;

access patient information from a patient information database over a wireless or wire-like connection;

obtain parameters of a planned surgery or intervention, wherein the parameters include a margin volume indicative of functioning liver tissue to be eliminated during the planned surgery or intervention;

automatically process and analyze the functional image data to determine a functional liver volume, wherein the functional image data comprises a stack of transaxial functional images that includes healthy functional tissue, tumor tissue, and non-functional non-tumor tissue, and wherein processing and analyzing the functional image data comprises generating a combined image from the stack of transaxial functional images and determining a volume represented by the healthy functional tissue excluding the tumor tissue and non-functional non-tumor tissue in the combined image;

determine a pre-therapy liver functional reserve of the patient by determining a pre-therapy perfused hepatic mass index and a pre-therapy functional liver volume index;

determine a post-therapy liver functional reserve of the patient by determining a post-therapy perfused hepatic mass index and a post-therapy functional liver volume index;

determine a virulence of a liver disease of the patient;

determine a recommended dose escalation factor by constructing a virulence-reserve matrix comprising the liver disease virulence and pre-therapy and post-therapy liver functional data; and

provide a recommended plan for treating liver disease comprising escalation of a treatment dose when the dose escalation factor is greater than one or de-escalation of a treatment dose when the dose escalation factor is less than one.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the pre-therapy liver functional reserve is normalized by patient characteristics comprising one or more of gender, height, weight, age, biomarkers and genetic factors.

3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more computer hardware processors are further configured to determine a likelihood of post-therapy liver failure based on a comparison between the pre-therapy and post-therapy perfused hepatic mass indices and a comparison between the pre-therapy and post-therapy functional liver volume indices.

4 . The system of claim 3 , wherein the one or more computer hardware processors are further configured to determine a trajectory indicative of health of the patient based on a difference between the post-therapy perfused hepatic mass index and the post-therapy functional liver volume index.

5 . The system of claim 4 , wherein the one or more computer hardware processors are further configured to determine a traversal rate of the trajectory of the patient.

6 . The system of claim 5 , wherein the one or more computer hardware processors are further configured to update the post-therapy liver functional reserve based on the trajectory of the patient and the traversal rate of the trajectory.

7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the patient receives treatment for the liver disease of the patient based on the dose escalation factor.

8 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the dose escalation factor is greater than one if the virulence is above a predetermined threshold and the post-therapy liver functional reserve is above a predetermined threshold,

wherein the dose escalation factor is less than one if the virulence is below a predetermined threshold and the post-therapy liver functional reserve is below a predetermined threshold,

wherein the dose escalation factor is one if the virulence is below a predetermined threshold and the post-therapy liver functional reserve is above a predetermined threshold,

wherein the dose escalation factor is null if the virulence is above a predetermined threshold and the post-therapy liver functional reserve is below a predetermined threshold.

9 . A system for treating a patient having a liver disease, the system comprising one or more computer hardware processors configured to at least:

receive functional image data of the liver of the patient that was generated by a functional scanner;

access patient information from a patient information database over a wireless or wire-like connection;

automatically process and analyze the functional image data to determine a functional liver volume (fLV), wherein the functional image data comprises a stack of transaxial functional images that includes healthy functional tissue, tumor tissue, and non-functional non-tumor tissue, and wherein processing and analyzing the functional image data comprises-generating a combined image from the stack of transaxial functional images and determining a volume represented by the healthy functional tissue excluding the tumor tissue and non-functional non-tumor tissue in the combined image;

determine a liver functional reserve (LFR) of the liver of the patient as a function of a product of at least two independent variables derived from the functional image data, the at least two independent variables comprising a quantitative liver function including a perfused hepatic mass (PHM) and the fLV; and

provide a recommended plan for treating liver disease comprising escalating or de-escalating a treatment based on the LFR, wherein the treatment comprises radiation therapy, embolization, ablation, or surgical resection.

10 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the one or more computer hardware processors is further configured to determine a personalized dose value (PDV) based on the LFR and a virulence (V) of the liver disease.

11 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the one or more computer hardware processors is further configured to determine a dose escalation factor (DEF), wherein DEF=PDV/DN, in which DN is a radiation dose absorbed by non-tumor liver tissue of the patient.

12 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the one or more computer hardware processors is further configured to:

obtain parameters of a planned surgery or intervention;

determine the LFR of the liver of the patient pre-therapy;

determine, based on the pre-therapy LFR of the patient and the parameters of the planned surgery or intervention, a post-therapy LFR of the patient;

determine a virulence of a liver disease of the patient; and

determine, based on the post-therapy LFR of the patient and the virulence of the liver disease of the patient, a recommended dose escalation factor.

13 . A method for increasing the overall survival for a liver cancer patient, the method comprising:

automatically processing and analyzing functional image data to determine a functional liver volume (fLV), wherein the functional image data comprises a stack of transaxial functional images that includes healthy functional tissue, tumor tissue, and non-functional non-tumor tissue, and wherein processing and analyzing the functional image data comprises generating a combined image from the stack of transaxial functional images and determining a volume represented by the healthy functional tissue excluding the tumor tissue and non-functional non-tumor tissue in the combined image;

determining a liver functional reserve (LFR) of a liver of the patient as a function of at least two independent variables comprising a quantitative liver function including a perfused hepatic mass (PHM) and the fLV;

determining a dose escalation factor (DEF), wherein DEF=PDV/DN, in which PDV is a personalized dose value based on the LFR and DN is a radiation dose absorbed by non-tumor liver tissue of the patient; and

treating a patient for liver cancer by escalating a radiation-treatment dose when the DEF is greater than 1 or de-escalating the radiation treatment dose when the DEF is less than 1.

14 . The method of claim 13 further comprising determining the PDV based on a virulence (V) of the liver disease.

15 . The method of claim 13 further comprising:

receiving an image of the liver of the patient from an image storage device;

accessing patient information from a patient information database over a wireless or wire-like connection;

obtaining parameters of a planned surgery or intervention;

determining the LFR of the liver of the patient pre-therapy, based on the image;

determining, based on the pre-therapy LFR of the patient and the parameters of the planned surgery or intervention, a post-therapy LFR of the patient;

determining a virulence of a liver disease of the patient; and

determining, based on the post-therapy LFR of the patient and the virulence of the liver disease of the patient, the recommended DEF.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (2)

References Cited (36)