Tumor tracking during radiation treatment using ultrasound imaging
Systems and methods for tracking a target volume, e.g., tumor, in real-time during radiation treatment are provided. Under one aspect, a system includes an ultrasound probe, an x-ray imager, a processor, and a computer-readable medium that stores a 3D image of the tumor in a first reference frame and instructions for causing the processor to: instruct the x-ray imager and ultrasound probe to substantially simultaneously obtain inherently registered x-ray and set-up ultrasound images of the tumor in a second reference frame; establish a transformation between the first and second reference frames by registering the 3D image and the x-ray image; instruct the ultrasound probe to obtain an intrafraction ultrasound image of the tumor; registering the intrafraction ultrasound image with the set-up ultrasound image; and track target volume motion based on the registered intrafraction ultrasound image.
1. A method of tracking an anatomy of interest, the method comprising:
receiving a first pre-acquired 3D image, of a first imaging modality, of the anatomy of interest of a patient in a first reference frame;
receiving a second pre-acquired 3D image, of a second modality, of the anatomy of interest of the patient in the first reference frame;
registering the first pre-acquired 3D image with the second pre-acquired 3D image;
obtaining a set-up ultrasound image of the anatomy of interest of the patient in a second reference frame;
establishing a transformation between the first and second reference frames by registering the second pre-acquired 3D image and the set-up ultrasound image;
obtaining an intrafraction ultrasound image of the anatomy of interest of the patient;
registering the intrafraction ultrasound image with the set-up ultrasound image; and
tracking motion of the anatomy of interest based on the registered intrafraction ultrasound image.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first pre-acquired 3D image comprises a CT image and the second pre-acquired 3D image comprises an MR image.
3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a position and orientation of the set-up ultrasound image in the second reference frame by obtaining from a tracking device positional data about markers affixed to an ultrasound probe; and
identifying a position and orientation of the ultrasound probe in the second reference frame based on the positional data.
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising adjusting a position and orientation of a radiation source based on the tracked motion of the anatomy of interest.
5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising adjusting a position and orientation of a patient treatment couch relative to a radiation source based on the tracked motion of the anatomy of interest.
6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising enabling or disabling a treatment beam based on the tracked motion of the anatomy of interest.
7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising adjusting a multileaf collimator to adjust delivery of a radiation treatment beam based on the tracked motion of the anatomy of interest.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first or second pre-acquired 3D image is used to derive a treatment plan to irradiate a target volume associated with the anatomy of interest.
9. A system for tracking an anatomy of interest, the system comprising:
a memory to store:
a first pre-acquired 3D image of the anatomy of interest of a patient in a first reference frame;
a second pre-acquired 3D image, of a second modality, of the anatomy of interest of the patient in the first reference frame; and
a registration of the first pre-acquired 3D image with the second pre-acquired 3D image; and
a processor, operative coupled with the memory, to:
receive, from an ultrasound probe, a set-up ultrasound image of the anatomy of interest of the patient in a second reference frame;
establish a transformation between the first and second reference frames by registering the set-up ultrasound image with the second pre-acquired 3D image;
receive, from the ultrasound probe, an intrafraction ultrasound image of the anatomy of interest of the patient;
register the intrafraction ultrasound image with the set-up ultrasound image; and
track motion of the anatomy of interest based on the registered intrafraction ultrasound image.
10. The system of claim 9 , further comprising the ultrasound probe.
11. The system of claim 9 , wherein the pre-acquired 3D image comprises an MR image.
12. The system of claim 9 , the processor further to:
determine a position and orientation of the set-up ultrasound image in the second reference frame by receiving, from a tracking device, positional data about markers affixed to an ultrasound probe; and
identify a position and orientation of the ultrasound probe in the second reference frame based on the positional data.
13. The system of claim 9 , the processor further to adjust a position and orientation of a radiation source based on the tracked motion of the anatomy of interest.
14. The system of claim 9 , the processor further to adjust a position and orientation of a patient treatment couch relative to a radiation source based on the tracked motion of the anatomy of interest.
15. The system of claim 9 , the processor to enable or disable a treatment beam based on the tracked motion of the anatomy of interest.
16. The system of claim 9 , the processor further to adjust a multileaf collimator to adjust delivery of a radiation beam based on the tracked motion of the anatomy of interest.
17. The system of claim 9 , wherein the pre-acquired 3D image is used to derive a treatment plan for irradiating a target volume associated with the anatomy of interest.