JP2005211671A - Radiotherapy planning device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To accurately and quickly confirm a treating region when performing a radiotherapy. <P>SOLUTION: This radiotherapy planning device is characterized by having an arithmetic operation means for making a three-dimensional image of a diagnostic region on the basis of image data provided by a medical diagnostic system for providing an image of the diagnostic region including the treating region of a subject, an image converting means for converting the image into a desired two-dimensional image including a point designated by an operator on the basis of the three-dimensional image made by the arithmetic operation means, and a treating center setting means for setting three-dimensional coordinates of the treatment center on the basis of the point designated by the operator on at least two kinds of two-dimensional images converted by the image converting means. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

The present invention relates to a radiotherapy planning apparatus, and more particularly to a radiotherapy planning apparatus that can accurately and quickly confirm a treatment site.

In recent years, when performing radiotherapy, in order to provide an accurate treatment center (isocenter) to the radiotherapy apparatus, treatment is performed based on slice images obtained by the X-ray CT apparatus and incidental information such as position information and pixel size. Various radiotherapy planning apparatuses for obtaining the center and supplying it to the radiotherapy apparatus have been proposed.
In addition, in order to recognize the position of a treatment site such as a tumor, the radiation treatment planning device traces the contour of the treatment site on the slice image obtained by the X-ray CT apparatus and obtains the contour data as the contour data. Synthesis into a desired two-dimensional image is also performed.

The configuration of such a conventional radiation therapy planning apparatus is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 6, a conventional radiotherapy planning apparatus 101 includes an input device 103 that receives a slice image (original image) and a scanogram of a diagnostic site including a tumor obtained by an X-ray CT apparatus (not shown). Input device 1
The contour of the tumor traced by the operator on the screen of the display unit 113 is stored as contour data by using the original image storage unit 105 that stores the slice image received in 03 and the mouse 103a provided in the input device 103. A three-dimensional image is created based on the contour image storage unit 107 and the slice image stored in the original image storage unit 105, and the axial image (slice image) and the slice image are perpendicular to the three-dimensional image. An arithmetic processing unit 109 for converting the sagittal image, the coronal image, or the slice image into an oblique image having a desired angle;
A three-dimensional image storage unit 111 for storing a three-dimensional image created by the arithmetic processing unit 109;
A display unit 113 that includes a display device (not shown) such as an RT and displays a slice image and a scano image received by the input device 103 and a three-dimensional image or a two-dimensional image created by the arithmetic processing unit 109 on the screen. And have.

When displaying the outline of a tumor on a desired two-dimensional image using this radiotherapy planning apparatus 101, first, the operator, as shown in FIG. 2, of slice images of a diagnostic region obtained by the X-ray CT apparatus. A plurality of slice images near the tumor are extracted and displayed on the screen of the display unit 113, and the outline of the tumor of each slice image (six images in the example shown in FIG. 2) is displayed using the mouse 103a. Trace on the screen. The input device 103 stores the slice image of the diagnostic region obtained by the X-ray CT apparatus in the original image storage unit 105.
When the outline of the tumor is traced, the input device 103 stores the outline of the tumor in the outline data storage unit 107 as outline data.
Next, the arithmetic processing unit 109 creates a three-dimensional image of the diagnostic region based on the slice image stored in the original image storage unit 105 and stores it in the three-dimensional image storage unit 111.

In this state, when displaying the surface inclined with respect to the slice image as indicated by the dotted line in FIG. 3, that is, the oblique image with the outline of the tumor being displayed, the operator uses the input device 103 to select a desired slice image near the tumor. Is displayed on the screen of the display unit 113, and the cutout position is designated by designating the coordinates of the tumor using the mouse 103a. When the cutout position is designated, the input device 103 supplies the cutout position to the arithmetic processing unit 109.

When the cutout position is supplied, the arithmetic processing unit 109 performs arithmetic processing based on the three-dimensional image stored in the three-dimensional image storage unit 111 to obtain an oblique image of the tumor as shown in FIG. create. Further, the arithmetic processing unit 109 performs arithmetic processing based on the contour data corresponding to the cut-out position stored in the contour data storage unit 107 and performs contour processing as shown in FIG. 7B corresponding to the oblique image. Create an image. Then, the arithmetic processing unit 109 adds the oblique image and the contour image to create an image obtained by synthesizing the tumor and its contour as shown in FIG. 4 and displays it on the screen of the display unit 113. Thereby, the operator can know the position of the tumor accurately.
In addition, although the case where the contour of the tumor is displayed on the oblique image is described here as an example,
The same operation is performed when displaying the axial contour, sagittal image, and coronal image with the outline of the tumor.

Next, when setting the treatment center using the conventional radiotherapy planning apparatus 101, first, the operator extracts a plurality of slice images near the tumor from the slice images obtained by the X-ray CT apparatus, and outlines the tumor. Trace. In this state, the operator displays a scanogram as shown in FIG. 8A obtained by the X-ray CT apparatus on the screen of the display unit 113. Then, the operator designates the center coordinates of the treatment center on the scanogram using the mouse 103a. At this time, since the coordinates of the treatment center designated on the scanogram are two-dimensional coordinates, the remaining one-axis coordinates are designated next.

In order to specify the coordinates of the remaining one axis, the operator uses the input device 103 to display slice images near the tumor whose contour is traced on the screen of the display unit 113 as shown in FIG. 8B. Let Then, the operator refers to the superimposed images and designates the center coordinates of the tumor using the mouse 103a. Thus, the treatment center is set.

However, in the conventional radiation therapy planning apparatus 101, when the contour of a tumor is displayed on a two-dimensional image such as an oblique image excluding a slice image, the two-dimensional image is calculated based on a three-dimensional image created from the slice image. Since the image is converted into an image, and the contour of the tumor is further processed so as to correspond to the two-dimensional image, and is synthesized with the two-dimensional image, there is a problem that the calculation processing time is slow.

Further, in the conventional radiotherapy planning apparatus 101, when setting the treatment center, since the treatment center is based on only the scanogram and the slice image, it is difficult to grasp the spread of organs around the tumor. There was a problem.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a radiotherapy planning apparatus capable of accurately and quickly confirming a treatment site when performing radiotherapy.

Further, the invention of the present application includes a calculation unit that creates a three-dimensional image of a diagnostic site based on image data obtained by a medical image diagnostic apparatus that obtains an image of a diagnostic site including a treatment site of a subject, and the calculation unit Based on the created three-dimensional image, an image conversion means for converting the image into a desired two-dimensional image including a point designated by the operator, and an operation on at least two types of two-dimensional images converted by the image conversion means And a treatment center setting means for setting a three-dimensional coordinate of the treatment center based on a point designated by the person.

The present invention has an effect that a treatment site can be confirmed accurately and quickly when radiotherapy is performed.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a radiotherapy planning apparatus according to the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the radiotherapy planning apparatus 1 of the present embodiment includes an input device 3, a slice image storage unit 5, a contour data storage unit 7, an arithmetic processing unit 9, and a three-dimensional image storage unit 11. A contour 3D image storage unit 13, an addition unit 15, a combined 3D image storage unit 17, an image conversion unit 19, a treatment center setting unit 21, and a display unit 23.

The input device 3 includes a mouse 3a, a keyboard, and an arithmetic processing device (not shown), and an X-ray CT
A slice image (original image) of a diagnostic site including a tumor obtained by an apparatus (not shown) is received, and the slice image is stored in the original image storage unit 5. Further, the input device 3 stores the contour of the tumor traced by the operator on the screen of the display unit 23 using the mouse 3a in the contour data storage unit 7 as contour data. Further, the input device 3 corresponds to the information input by the operator using the mouse 3a or the keyboard, and is converted into a command by the arithmetic processing device, and the arithmetic processing unit 9, the adding unit 15, the image converting unit 19, or the treatment center Output to the setting unit 21.

The arithmetic processing unit 9 creates a three-dimensional image of the diagnostic part based on the slice image stored in the original image storage unit 5 and stores it in the three-dimensional image storage unit 11, and also the contour data storage unit 7.
A three-dimensional image of the contour of the tumor is created based on the contour data stored in the image and stored in the contour three-dimensional image storage unit 13.

The adding unit 15 adds the three-dimensional image of the diagnostic region stored in the three-dimensional image storage unit 11 and the three-dimensional image of the tumor contour stored in the contour three-dimensional image storage unit 13 to add the diagnostic region A composite 3D image in which the outline of the tumor is superimposed is stored in the composite 3D image storage unit 17.

The image conversion unit 19 includes a three-dimensional image of the diagnostic part created by the arithmetic processing unit 9 and the addition unit 1.
The desired angle with respect to the axial image (slice image), the sagittal image perpendicular to the slice image, the coronal image, or the slice image based on at least one of the composite three-dimensional images created in step 5 Is converted to an oblique image with

The treatment center setting unit 21 includes an axial image, a sagittal image converted by the image conversion unit 19,
Of the two types of coronal and oblique images, the treatment center is displayed in three-dimensional coordinates based on the point specified by the operator using the treatment center setting cursor displayed on the two-dimensional image. Set. When the treatment center is set on two types of two-dimensional images, the treatment center setting unit 21 displays the treatment center at the same time when the remaining two-dimensional image is displayed on the screen. Furthermore, the treatment center setting unit 21 supplies the treatment center having the set three-dimensional coordinates to a radiation therapy apparatus (not shown).

The display unit 23 includes a display device (not shown) such as a CRT, and includes a slice image and a scanogram received by the input device 3, a three-dimensional image of a diagnostic site created by the arithmetic processing unit 9, and a tumor contour. The three-dimensional image, the synthesized three-dimensional image created by the adding unit 15, the axial image, the sagittal image, the coronal image, the oblique image, and the like converted by the image converting unit 19 are displayed on the screen.

Next, operation | movement of the radiotherapy planning apparatus 1 of a present Example is demonstrated. First, the operation for displaying the contour of the tumor on the oblique image will be described.
First, the operator extracts a plurality of slice images near the tumor from the slice images of the diagnostic site obtained by the X-ray CT apparatus and displays them on the screen of the display unit 23, as shown in FIG. Is used to trace the outline of the tumor of each slice image (six slice images in the example shown in FIG. 2) on the screen. At this time, since it is difficult to confirm the tumor infiltration in the slice image obtained by the X-ray CT apparatus, the outline of the tumor is traced slightly larger in consideration of the tumor invasion. The input device 3 stores a slice image of the diagnostic site obtained by the X-ray CT apparatus in the original image storage unit 5.

When the outline of the tumor is traced, the input device 3 stores the outline of the tumor in the outline data storage unit 7 as outline data.
Next, the arithmetic processing unit 9 creates a three-dimensional image of the diagnostic region based on the slice image stored in the original image storage unit 5 and stores it in the three-dimensional image storage unit 11, as well as the contour data storage unit 7. A three-dimensional image of the contour of the tumor is created based on the contour data stored in the image and stored in the contour three-dimensional image storage unit 13.

When the three-dimensional image of the diagnostic region and the three-dimensional image of the contour of the tumor are created, the adding unit 15
The three-dimensional image of the diagnostic region stored in the three-dimensional image storage unit 11 and the three-dimensional image of the tumor contour stored in the contour three-dimensional image storage unit 13 are added to obtain the diagnostic region and the tumor contour. A superimposed composite 3D image is created and stored in the composite 3D image storage unit 17.

In this state, as shown in FIG. 3, when displaying the surface inclined with respect to the slice image, that is, the oblique image with the outline of the tumor being displayed, the operator uses the input device 3 to display the desired slice image near the tumor. The cutout position is designated by displaying on the screen of the unit 23 and designating the coordinates of the tumor using the mouse 3a. Note that the cutout position may be designated on the three-dimensional image.

When the cutout position is designated, the input device 3 supplies the cutout position to the image conversion unit 19.
When the cut-out position is supplied, the image conversion unit 19 performs an arithmetic process based on the synthesized 3D image stored in the synthesized 3D image storage unit 17 to create an oblique image.
At this time, the image conversion unit 19 creates an oblique image based on the combined three-dimensional image obtained by superimposing the diagnostic region and the outline of the tumor. For this reason, the contour of the tumor is superimposed on the created oblique image as shown in FIG.

The outline of the tumor is displayed on the screen of the display unit 23 with luminance corresponding to the CT value 2048, but the value is not limited to this value as long as the outline can be identified.
Although the case where the contour of the tumor is displayed on the oblique image is described here as an example, the same operation is performed when the contour of the tumor is displayed on the axial image, the sagittal image, and the coronal image.

Next, the operation for setting the treatment center will be described.
First, the operator extracts a plurality of slice images near the tumor from the slice images obtained by the X-ray CT apparatus and traces the outline of the tumor.

In this state, the operator performs the same operation as that in the case where the contour of the tumor is displayed on the oblique image described above, and one two-dimensional image among the axial image, the sagittal image, the coronal image, and the oblique image via the input device 3. For example, an axial image is displayed on the screen of the display unit 23 (see FIG. 5, axial image).

After the two-dimensional image is displayed, the operator moves the treatment center setting cursor using the mouse 3a or the keyboard, and moves the mouse 3a to a desired position of the tumor, for example, the center of the tumor.
Or press the Enter key on the keyboard.

Next, the operator displays one two-dimensional image, for example, a sagittal image, among the remaining two-dimensional images.
In the same manner, the mouse 3a or the determination key on the keyboard is pressed in accordance with the desired position of the tumor (see FIG. 5, sagittal image). Thereby, the treatment center is set in three-dimensional coordinates.

Here, the treatment center is set on at least two two-dimensional images. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and an arbitrary point may be set in the three-dimensional space. In this case, for example, a position on one coordinate axis in the three-dimensional space is designated, and an arbitrary point is set on the three-dimensional image by designating a position on a plane passing through this position and parallel to the other coordinate axes. Can do.
Thereafter, when another two-dimensional image, for example, a coronal image is displayed on the screen, the treatment center setting unit 21 displays the treatment center at the same time (see FIG. 5, coronal image). The treatment center setting unit 21 supplies the treatment center of the set three-dimensional coordinates to a radiation therapy apparatus (not shown).

As described above, in the radiotherapy planning apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the axial image, the sagittal image, and the coronal image oblique image are created based on the combined three-dimensional image obtained by superimposing the diagnostic region and the outline of the tumor. The contour of the tumor is superimposed on the two-dimensional image, and the operation of superimposing the contour data corresponding to the oblique image by superimposing the contour data as in the conventional radiation treatment planning apparatus 101 becomes unnecessary, thereby shortening the computation processing time. The tumor can be confirmed accurately and quickly.

In the radiotherapy planning apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the treatment center is set on at least two two-dimensional images among the axial image, the sagittal image, the coronal image, and the oblique image, so that the tumor can be confirmed accurately and quickly. Therefore, it is possible to set the treatment center quickly and accurately.
In addition, in the radiotherapy planning apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, an X-ray CT apparatus is used for confirming a treatment position, but the present invention is not limited thereto, and treatment is performed using another medical image diagnostic apparatus such as a magnetic resonance apparatus. It can also be applied when confirming the position.

It is the block diagram which showed the structure of the radiotherapy planning apparatus which concerns on this invention. It is a figure which shows the example at the time of tracing the outline of a treatment site | part on a slice image. It is a figure which shows the cut-out surface of the tumor and oblique image on a three-dimensional image. It is a figure which shows the image which synthesize | combined the treatment site | part and its outline. It is a figure which shows the example (chest part) of an axial image, a sagittal image, and a coronal image, and the treatment center setting cursor and treatment center which are displayed on those images. It is the block diagram which showed the structure of the conventional radiotherapy planning apparatus. It is a figure which shows the oblique image (a) of the treatment site | part obtained by the conventional radiotherapy planning apparatus shown in FIG. 6, and the oblique image (b) of the outline. It is a figure which shows a scano image and a superposition image at the time of setting a treatment center by the conventional radiotherapy planning apparatus shown in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Radiotherapy planning apparatus 3 Input device 3a Mouse 5 Original image storage part 7 Contour data storage part 9 Arithmetic processing part 11 Three-dimensional image storage part 13 Contour three-dimensional image storage part 15 Adder part 17 Composite three-dimensional image storage part 19 Image conversion Part 21 Treatment center setting part 23 Display part

Claims (1)

Computing means for creating a three-dimensional image of a diagnostic region based on image data obtained by a medical image diagnostic apparatus that obtains an image of a diagnostic region including a treatment region of a subject;
Based on the three-dimensional image created by the computing means, image conversion means for converting into a desired two-dimensional image including a point designated by the operator;
Treatment center setting means for setting three-dimensional coordinates of the treatment center based on a point designated by an operator on at least two types of two-dimensional images converted by the image conversion means;
A radiotherapy planning apparatus comprising:

Images