158 results about "Stereotaxis" patented technology

This invention involves apparatus and methods for relating image scan data of a patient's anatomy from an imaging scanner to a device attached to said patient's anatomy or to an apparatus located nearby said patient's anatomy. In one embodiment it includes identification of fiducial points or markers on or near the patient's anatomy in the image scan data, and subsequently relating these fiducial points to reference points or structures connected to an apparatus attached to or nearby the patient's body. Such an apparatus might be a surgical head clamp or stereotactic frame or arc which has been attached to the patient's head at the time of surgery. A mapping is made between the coordinate frame data of the scan image to the coordinate reference frame of the patient attachment means or external apparatus by physically referencing the fiducial points to the patient attachment means or external apparatus. In one embodiment, such registration can be in the form of distance or coordinate measurements between the fiducial points on the patient's body and the reference points on the external apparatus. Applications are given in the field of frameless stereotaxy, radiosurgery, and stereotactic frame application.

The invention relates to a technique for precisely locating a line containing a predetermined point within the surgical site using a series of levels and plumb lines and internal anatomical features of the surgical site, using this location to precisely position and temporarily affix a site preparation scaffold relative to the patient's anatomy so that site preparation instruments can be introduced into the site at precise locations governed by the scaffold geometry and patient anatomy. This precise positioning of the scaffold also provides a way for the surgeon to use patient anatomical features to reliably and precisely prepare the surgical site. Scaffolds having angling features further increase the precise preparation of the surgical site. This increased precision in site preparation increases the probability of a successful procedure, and decreases the likelihood that additional surgery may be needed.

A targeting system for administering radiation to a patient and methods therefor are provided. The targeting system includes a stereotactic frame system for immobilizing the patient; an imaging scanner for acquiring images of a patient's anatomy, wherein at least one image is acquired during a planning phase, and at least one image is acquired during a pretreatment phase; a processor for fusing the planning image to the pretreatment image and for determining a shift, for example, translation and rotation, between the images to locate a predetermined portion of the patient's anatomy; and a radiation source for delivery of radiation to the predetermined portion of the patient's anatomy.

An excisional biopsy needle assembly for use in combination with a stereotactic platform for excising tissue from the interior of the body. The biopsy needle includes a rotatable flexible blade that is capable of transforming between a contracted configuration for piercing into the interior of the body and an expanded configuration in which the flexible blade is expanded relative to the shaft of the needle for excising tissue. The needle assembly may be mounted in a stereotactic needle for a breast biopsy procedure that digitally directs the needle tip into a lesion with the flexible blades in a contracted configuration, then expands the flexible blades to the expanded configuration and rotates the blades thus excising tissue in a region having a cross sectional dimension that is large in relation to the cross section of the needle shaft. The excised tissue is extracted from the needle tip through an aspiration channel.

A drive system for controlling movement of an elongate member includes a base unit having a first rotatable knob and a second rotatable knob, a follower assembly including a follower slidably coupled to a guide rail, a longitudinal movement wire, and a rotational movement wire. The follower includes a longitudinal movement pulley, a rotational movement pulley, and an alignment element structured to receive an elongate member such that the elongate member is attachable thereto. The longitudinal movement wire operably couples the first rotatable knob to the longitudinal movement pulley such that rotation of the first knob drives the follower in a longitudinal direction along the guide rail. The rotational movement wire operably couples the second rotatable knob to the rotational movement pulley such that rotation of the second knob rotates the alignment element and attached elongate member.

The invention relates generally to biopsy needle guidance which employs an x-ray/gamma image spatial co-registration methodology. A gamma camera is configured to mount on a biopsy needle gun platform to obtain a gamma image. More particular, the spatially co-registered x-ray and physiological images may be employed for needle guidance during biopsy. Moreover, functional images may be obtained from a gamma camera at various angles relative to a target site. Further, the invention also generally relates to a breast lesion localization method using opposed gamma camera images or dual opposed images. This dual head methodology may be used to compare the lesion signal in two opposed detector images and to calculate the Z coordinate (distance from one or both of the detectors) of the lesion.

This invention pertains to a method of low-cost intraoperative all field simultaneous parallel microbeam single fraction few seconds duration 100 to 1,000 Gy and higher dose radiosurgery with micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS)-carbon nanotube based microaccelerators. It ablates cancer cells including the mesenchymal epithelial transformation associated cancer stem cells. Microbeam brachy-therapeutic radiosurgery is performed. Microaccelerators are configured for simultaneous parallel microbeam emission from varying angels to an isocentric tumor. Their additive dose rate at the isocentric tumor is in the range of 10,000 to 20,000 Gy/s. It eliminates most tumor recurrence and metastasis which enhances cancer cure rates. It also exposes cancer antigens which induces cancer immunity. Stereotactic breast core biopsy is combined with, positron emission tomography and computerized tomography and phase-contrast imaging. Parallel microbeam brachytherapy preserves normal breast appearance. Migration of normal stem cells from unirradiated valley regions heals the radiation damage to the normal tissue.

Methods and apparatus for identifying and evaluating surgical stereotactic trajectories to a target area are disclosed. Entry points and trajectories are evaluated based on segmented images. The segmentation process may involve segmenting the anatomical region into discrete regions. Candidate entry points are evaluated according to image intensity following segmentation of the anatomical region. Candidate entry points may be refined according to various angle corridors. Following identification of a target area, for each candidate entry point, the proposed trajectory is evaluated using segmented image data (e.g., identifying tissue types) and image intensity. The final proposed trajectory is based on derivation of a statistic for each trajectory indicating the deviation at each point from the mean region of interest image intensity and selection of trajectory with the lowest statistic value. The proposed trajectory is then presented to a computer user.

A system for delivery of high dosage of radiation to a targeted spinal area is provided. This is accomplished by a system which provides for precise immobilization and positioning of the treated spinal area during dose planning and treatment via stereotactic radiosurgery. Advantages of the system include convenience to the patient, enhanced efficacy, and reduced risk of radiotoxicity to non-target tissues.

Herein described is an apparatus and method for stabilizing, restraining and positioning a patient during human medical or veterinary procedures, for example, diagnostic imaging procedures, such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Computerized Tomography scanning procedures, or therapeutic procedures, such as stereotactic radiosurgery. The restraining apparatus of the present invention, comprised of a castable sleeve and optional expandable element, sufficiently immobilizes the patient so as to eliminate motion artifact and motion degradation, to thereby provide improved imaging and/or therapy results.

A fiducial marker system (210a-c) comprises a first unit and a second unit. The first unit is patient affixable and comprises a partly spherical inner surface having a first center point that is adapted to receive a touch probe measurement head for measuring the spatial position of the center point. The second unit is releasably attachable to an outer surface of the first unit, and has a second center point, wherein the first center point and the second center point are substantially identical when the second unit is attached to the first unit. For stereotactic therapy, a patient is imaged with the first and second unit assembled. Then the second unit is detached. A stereotactic frame (300) is attached to the first units via arms. Thus frameless imaging is provided in a frame based stereotactic surgery system with high precision. Repeated assembly of the frame (300) to the first units, remaining in the patient, provides advantageous fractionized stereotactic radiotherapy.

A method of treating a cancerous region in a breast of a patient comprising (i) imaging the breast in a three-dimensional coordinate system, (ii) stereotactically determining the location of the cancerous region in the breast, (iii) optionally determining the volume of the entire cancerous region to be treated, and (iv) while maintaining the breast in a three-dimensional coordinate system that is identical to or corresponds with the three-dimensional coordinate system used in (i), noninvasively exposing the cancerous region of the breast of the patient to a cancer-treatment effective dose of radiation; and equipment for use in such a method.

A microbeam intraoperative, 10-50 kilovoltage radiation therapy system with multiple simultaneous microfocus X-ray sources and method for image guided, microsecond duration, 100 to 1,000 Gy microbeam radiation therapies with dose rate ranging from 1,000 to 20,000 Gy per second and RBE closer to high LET with minimal toxicity to normal tissue is provided. Dismountable coronal, sagital and transverse half-circle gantry sections are assembled on to a surgical table for mounting the microfocus X-ray sources for intraoperative radiosurgery. A stereotactic breast core biopsy system is adapted for combined breast biopsy, positron emission tomography and computerized tomography with phase-contrast imaging. Cosmetic whole breast preserving electronic brachytherapy is combined with stereotactic core biopsy. The low dose valley regions of the intersecting microbeams at the tumor site are filled with scattered and characteristic radiation from high Z-element that is bound or implanted into the tumor.

The movement of a catheter through a medium, which may be living tissue such as a human brain, is controlled by mechanically pushing a flexible catheter having a magnetic tip through the medium and applying a magnetic field having a magnitude and a direction that guides the mechanically-pushed catheter tip stepwise along a desired path. The magnetic field is controlled in a Magnetic Stereotaxis System by a processor using an adaptation of a PID (proportional, integral, and derivative) feedback method. The magnetic fields are applied by superconducting coils, and the currents applied through the coils are selected to minimize a current metric.

A system is disclosed that allows stereotaxic procedures being performed on lab animals to interact, on a “live” or “real-time” basis, with information that has been compiled in stereotaxic brain atlases. For example, during an invasive procedure, a researcher can see, on a cross-sectional brain map displayed on a full-sized computer monitor, the location and travel of an instrument tip, indicated by means such as a bright blinking cursor or icon. If desired, important brain structures (such as major nerve bundles) can been prominently labeled and/or colored, to clearly indicate their locations, and help the researcher ensure that they are avoided. This system can be provided by coupling a digital stereotaxic manipulator to a dedicated controller with touch-screen capability, and coupling the PLC processor to a computer having a monitor screen that is large enough to display a brain map with good resolution. Alternately, the digital stereotaxic manipulator can be coupled directly to a computer, via an interface card or other device.

A therapeutic apparatus for treating body tissue comprises a vessel enclosing a detonation chamber into which a detonatable mixture is introduced and then detonated using an igniter to form at least one shockwave and/or acoustic wave. A wave guide assembly having a converging geometry directs the wave to a tip of the wave guide assembly that is placed in contact with tissue to be treated by the wave. The wave guide assembly may include a wave focusing section surrounding the vessel, a flexible conduit connected to the wave focusing section and a needle connected to the conduit and sized for insertion into patient tissue to be treated. A cap connected to the end of the needle is formed from material permitting the wave or waves generated in the detonation chamber to pass therethrough to treat the patient tissue into which the needle is inserted.