Medical Image Processing Apparatus for Respiratory Phase ITV Visualization
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional radiation treatment planning methods fail to clearly establish the relationship between Internal Target Volume (ITV) and respiratory states, making it difficult to minimize the ITV size and thereby reduce patient burden during treatments.
Innovation Solution
A medical image processing apparatus that extracts a region of interest and treatment target from chronologically acquired three-dimensional medical image data, generates a movable region image recognizable by phases, and displays it superimposed on the treatment target in a coordinate-corresponding manner, allowing for clear visualization of ITV movement with respiratory states.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If dynamic volume image taking or respiration synchronized image taking is used to estimate ITV, then movement states of tumor can be viewed at multiple points in time, but the relationship between the regions used for estimating ITV and the respiratory states cannot be made clear
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the respiratory cycle into multiple distinct phases (e.g., inhalation phase, exhalation phase, transition phases) and associates each phase with specific ITV regions. This segmentation allows clear identification of which ITV regions correspond to which respiratory states, resolving the information loss about the relationship between ITV and respiratory phases while maintaining accurate ITV estimation through multi-phase imaging.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If ITV is arranged to be as small as possible to reduce patient burden, then treatment precision may be compromised, but larger ITV increases patient burden
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamic imaging techniques that capture tumor position at multiple respiratory phases, allowing the ITV to be dynamically adjusted based on actual tumor movement. This enables setting a minimized ITV that still encompasses the true tumor trajectory, thereby reducing patient burden while maintaining treatment precision through phase-specific tumor localization.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the parameter of ITV definition from a static single-volume approach to a dynamic multi-phase approach, where ITV is defined differently for each respiratory phase. This parameter change allows precise delineation of tumor boundaries at each phase, enabling minimized phase-specific ITV that reduces patient burden while ensuring complete tumor coverage for precise treatment.
Data Source
AI summary
A medical image processing apparatus includes: an extracting unit that extracts a region of interest and a treatment target organ from each of pieces of three-dimensional medical image data acquired chronologically; a generating unit that generates a movable region image in which each of images of the region of interest that correspond to specified phases and that are among images of the region of interest extracted by the extracting unit from the pieces of three-dimensional medical image data is arranged in an extraction position in a three-dimensional coordinate system, while being characterized in such a manner that the phases are recognizable; and a display controlling unit that causes a display unit to display a display image in which the movable region image during a treatment is superimposed, in a coordinate-corresponding manner, on an image showing the treatment target organ and corresponding to phases during the treatment.