System and method for performing a biopsy of a target volume and a computing device for planning the same

1. A system for performing a prostate biopsy comprising:

a three-dimensional (3D) trans-rectal ultrasound transducer configured to generate 3D ultrasound image data of a target volume including said prostate;

a prostate segmentation module for identifying a segmented boundary of said prostate in said 3D ultrasound image data;

a three-dimensional registration module configured to register said 3D ultrasound image data with a prior acquired 3D image data of said prostate, wherein said prior acquired 3D image data includes previous core locations of biopsy cores registered to the prior acquired 3D image data, wherein said registration is based on at least one of

image intensity features of corresponding anatomical structures in said 3D ultrasound image data and said prior acquired 3D image data; and

segmented boundaries of said prostate in said 3D ultrasound image data and said prior acquired 3D image data;

a display for displaying said 3D ultrasound image data and said previous core locations of said prior acquired 3D image superimposed in the frame of reference of said prostate of said 3D ultrasound image data;

a biopsy planning module configured to process said 3D ultrasound image data and said previous core locations of said prior acquired 3D image data in combination in order to compute a biopsy plan for said prostate, said biopsy plan including one or more biopsy needle trajectories; and

a biopsy needle configured to biopsy said prostate in accordance with said computed biopsy plan and following said one or more biopsy needle trajectories.

2. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:

a cancer probability distribution module configured to generate a cancer probability distribution for said prostate.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein said cancer probability distribution module generates said cancer probability distribution based on one or more parameters of a patient.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein said prior acquired 3D image data comprises ultrasound image data captured prior to said biopsy.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein said prior acquired 3D image data comprises a three-dimensional image captured using a modality different than ultrasound imaging.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein said three-dimensional image is captured using single photon emission computerized tomography.

7. The system of claim 5 , wherein said three-dimensional image is captured using magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

8. The system of claim 5 , wherein said three-dimensional image is captured using positron emission tomography.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein said 3D trans-rectal ultrasound transducer comprises an end-firing trans-rectal ultrasound probe and a computer including a three-dimensional reconstruction module, said three-dimensional registration module and said biopsy planning module, said three-dimensional reconstruction module configured to receive two-dimensional ultrasound image data of the target volume including the prostrate generated by the ultrasound probe and generate the 3D ultrasound image data therefrom.

10. A method for performing a prostate biopsy, comprising:

acquiring ultrasound image data of a target volume including said prostate using a three-dimensional ultrasound transducer;

registering said ultrasound image data with prior acquired image data that includes previous core locations of previous biopsy cores registered to the prior acquired image data, wherein said registering is based on at least one of:

image intensity features of corresponding anatomical structures in said ultrasound image data and said prior acquired image data; and

segmented boundaries of said prostate in said ultrasound image data and said prior acquired image data;

processing said ultrasound image data and said prior acquired 3D image data in combination in order to compute a biopsy plan for said prostate, said biopsy plan including one or more biopsy needle trajectories; and

performing a biopsy using a biopsy needle in accordance with said computed biopsy plan and following said one or more biopsy needle trajectories.

11. The method according to claim 10 , further comprising:

presenting an image on a display based on said ultrasound image data and said previous biopsy cores of said prior acquired image data.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein said presenting comprises presenting a multi-modality image.

13. The method claim 10 , further comprising:

receiving said prior acquired image data from another system.

14. The method of claim 10 ,further comprising:

capturing said prior acquired image data using a modality different than ultrasound imaging.