Systems and methods for real-time tumor tracking during radiation treatment using ultrasound imaging

摘要

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.

主权项

1. A system for tracking an anatomy of interest, the system comprising:
an ultrasound probe configured to obtain ultrasound images of the anatomy of interest; a non-ultrasound imaging modality configured to obtain at least one non-ultrasound image of the anatomy of interest, wherein the non-ultrasound imaging modality is an x-ray imaging system and the non-ultrasound image is an x-ray image; and a controller in operable communication with the ultrasound probe and the non-ultrasound imaging modality, the controller comprising a processor and a computer-readable medium, the computer-readable medium storing a pre-acquired 3D image of the anatomy of interest in a first reference frame, and further storing instructions to cause the processor to perform the following operations:
obtaining the non-ultrasound image of the anatomy of interest in a second reference frame;obtaining, using the ultrasound probe, a set-up ultrasound image of the anatomy of interest substantially simultaneously as the non-ultrasound image is obtained, wherein a plurality of implanted fiducials are visible in the set-up ultrasound image and the non-ultrasound image;establishing a transformation between the first and second reference frames by registering the pre-acquired 3D image and the non-ultrasound image, wherein the transformation between the first and second reference frames is obtained by registering the x-ray image with a DRR obtained from the pre-acquired 3D image;instructing the ultrasound probe to obtain a first intrafraction ultrasound image of the anatomy of interest;obtaining the first intrafraction ultrasound image and additional intrafraction ultrasound images;registering the first intrafraction ultrasound image with the set-up ultrasound image;registering the first intrafraction ultrasound image and the set-up ultrasound image to the non-ultrasound image based on the fiducial markers being visible in the set-up ultrasound image and the non-ultrasound image; andtracking the anatomy of interest motion based on the registered first intrafraction ultrasound image and the additional intrafraction ultrasound images.