Case No. 2016-254
SUMMARY
UCLA researchers have developed a novel scanning and analysis method for breathing motion-correlated CT that can provide breathing motion-artifacts free images for subsequent use in biomechanical modeling for COPD diagnosis and radiation therapy treatment planning.
BACKGROUND
Breathing motion has been managed in radiotherapy treatment planning by acquiring a four-dimensional computed tomography (4DCT) during CT simulation. A simultaneous breathing surrogate measurement is conducted to retrospectively subdivide acquired projections or images according to breath phase. Under conditions of regular breathing (breath with consistent breathing depth), the current method can provide clinically useful images. However, many if not most patients, especially lung cancer patients, do not breath regularly, which will cause artifacts in 4DCT. Novel model-based methods to provide sorting-artifact free images for radiation therapy treatment planning use fast helical free breathing CT scans. While these model-based methods provide images that are breathing phase sorting artifact free, they retain breathing motion induced blurring. Furthermore, investigators have attempted to use breath-hold CT to estimate ventilation and biomechanical properties. However, breathing is a dynamic process and we hypothesize that much of the clinically useful information remains hidden when studying only breath-hold CT images. A method to provide motion–artifact free images is critical to developing CT-based diagnostic tools for COPD.
INNOVATION
UCLA researchers have developed have generated a method to generate motion artifact-free images that break the assumption that patients remain still during CT acquisition. This technology does not require any changes in CT scanner design or operation.
APPLICATIONS
Provide motion artifact-free images for radiation therapy
ADVANTAGES
Patients do not need to hold their breath during CT scans to get high quality images
Resulting scans do not contain breathing artifacts
Can be applied to current CT scanner design and operation
RELATED MATERIALS
Low D A, White B M, Lee P P, et al. A novel CT acquisition and analysis technique for breathing motion modeling[J]. Physics in medicine and biology, 2013, 58(11): L31.