Patient-Adaptive Nuclear Imaging

Abstract

A system and method includes identification of locations of one or more internal volumes of a body, each of the identified one or more locations associated with radioactivity greater than a threshold level, determination of a degree of interest associated with each of the one or more internal volumes based at least in part on the associated radioactivity, determination of a scanning speed associated with each of a plurality of scanning coordinates, based at least in part on the locations of the one or more internal volumes and the degree of interest associated with each of the one or more of the internal volumes, and control of the nuclear imaging scanner to scan the body based on the plurality of scanning speeds and associated scanning coordinates.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system comprising:
 a nuclear imaging scanner;   a processing system to:
 identify locations of one or more internal volumes of a body, each of the identified one or more locations associated with radioactivity greater than a threshold level; 
 determining a degree of interest associated with each of the one or more internal volumes based at least in part on the associated radioactivity; 
 determine a scanning speed associated with each of a plurality of scanning coordinates, based at least in part on the locations of the one or more internal volumes and the degree of interest associated with each of the one or more of the internal volumes; and 
 control the nuclear imaging scanner to scan the body based on the plurality of scanning speeds and associated scanning coordinates. 
   
     
     
         2 . A system according to  claim 1 , the nuclear imaging scanner to perform a scout scan to acquire nuclear imaging scan data of the body, and wherein the one or more locations of the internal volumes associated with radioactivity greater than a threshold level are identified based on the nuclear imaging scan data. 
     
     
         3 . A system according to  claim 2 , further comprising:
 a computed tomography scanner to acquire computed tomography scan data of the body,   wherein the degree of interest associated with each of the one or more internal volumes is determined based at least in part on the computed tomography scan data, the one or more locations associated with radioactivity greater than a threshold level, and the nuclear imaging scan data.   
     
     
         4 . A system according to  claim 3 , further comprising:
 a memory system to store data associating anatomical regions with scanning speeds;   the processing system further to:
 segment the computed tomography scan data to acquire three-dimensional coordinates of anatomical region boundaries, 
 wherein the scanning speed associated with each of the plurality of scanning coordinates is determined based at least in part on the locations of the one or more internal volumes, the degree of interest associated with each of the one or more of the internal volumes, the three-dimensional coordinates of anatomical region boundaries, and the data associating anatomical regions with scanning speeds. 
   
     
     
         5 . A system according to  claim 4 , the processing system further to:
 generate an attenuation coefficient map based on the computed tomography scan data,   wherein the scanning speed associated with each of the plurality of scanning coordinates is determined based at least in part on the locations of the one or more internal volumes, the degree of interest associated with each of the one or more of the internal volumes, the three-dimensional coordinates of anatomical region boundaries, the data associating anatomical regions with scanning speeds, and the attenuation coefficient map.   
     
     
         6 . A system according to  claim 3 , the processing system further to:
 generate an attenuation coefficient map based on the computed tomography scan data,   wherein the scanning speed associated with each of the plurality of scanning coordinates is determined based at least in part on the locations of the one or more internal volumes, the degree of interest associated with each of the one or more of the internal volumes, and the attenuation coefficient map.   
     
     
         7 . A system according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a computed tomography scanner to acquire computed tomography scan data of the body,   the processing system further to:
 register the computed tomography scan data against previously-acquired computed tomography scan data of the body to determine a registration transformation; 
 apply the registration transformation to previously-acquired nuclear imaging scan data of the body to generate transformed nuclear imaging scan data of the body, the previously-acquired nuclear imaging scan data being temporally and spatially associated with the previously-acquired computed tomography scan data; and 
 apply the registration transformation to the previously-acquired computed tomography scan data of the body to generate transformed computed tomography scan data of the body; 
 wherein the locations of the one or more internal volumes are determined based on the transformed nuclear imaging scan data of the body, and 
 wherein the degree of interest associated with each of the one or more internal volumes is determined based at least in part on the transformed computed tomography scan data and the one or more locations. 
   
     
     
         8 . A method comprising:
 identifying locations of one or more internal volumes of a body, each of the identified one or more locations associated with radioactivity greater than a threshold level;   determining a classification of each of the one or more internal volumes based at least in part on the associated radioactivity, at least two of the internal volumes classified into different classifications;   determine a scanning speed associated with each of a plurality of scanning coordinates, based at least in part on the locations of the one or more internal volumes and the classification of each of the one or more of the internal volumes; and   control a nuclear imaging scanner to scan the body over each of the scanning coordinates at the associated scanning speed.   
     
     
         9 . A method according to  claim 8 , further comprising acquiring nuclear imaging scan data of the body, wherein identifying the one or more locations of the internal volumes associated with radioactivity greater than a threshold level is based on the nuclear imaging scan data. 
     
     
         10 . A method according to  claim 9 , further comprising:
 acquiring computed tomography scan data of the body,   wherein the degree of interest associated with each of the one or more internal volumes is determined based at least in part on the computed tomography scan data, the one or more locations associated with radioactivity greater than a threshold level, and the nuclear imaging scan data.   
     
     
         11 . A method according to  claim 10 , further comprising:
 segmenting the computed tomography scan data to acquire three-dimensional coordinates of anatomical region boundaries,   wherein the scanning speed associated with each of the plurality of scanning coordinates is determined based at least in part on the locations of the one or more internal volumes, the classification of each of the one or more of the internal volumes, the three-dimensional coordinates of anatomical region boundaries, and data associating anatomical regions with relative scanning speeds.   
     
     
         12 . A method according to  claim 11 , further comprising:
 generating an attenuation coefficient map based on the computed tomography scan data,   wherein the scanning speed associated with each of the plurality of scanning coordinates is determined based at least in part on the locations of the one or more internal volumes, the classification of each of the one or more of the internal volumes, the three-dimensional coordinates of anatomical region boundaries, the data associating anatomical regions with relative scanning speeds, and the attenuation coefficient map.   
     
     
         13 . A method according to  claim 10 , further comprising:
 generating an attenuation coefficient map based on the computed tomography scan data,   wherein the scanning speed associated with each of the plurality of scanning coordinates is determined based at least in part on the locations of the one or more internal volumes, the classification of each of the one or more of the internal volumes, and the attenuation coefficient map.   
     
     
         14 . A method according to  claim 8 , further comprising:
 acquiring computed tomography scan data of the body;   registering the computed tomography scan data against previously-acquired computed tomography scan data of the body to determine a registration transformation;   applying the registration transformation to previously-acquired nuclear imaging scan data of the body to generate transformed nuclear imaging scan data of the body, the previously-acquired nuclear imaging scan data being temporally and spatially associated with the previously-acquired computed tomography scan data; and   applying the registration transformation to the previously-acquired computed tomography scan data of the body to generate transformed computed tomography scan data of the body;   wherein the locations of the one or more internal volumes are determined based on the transformed nuclear imaging scan data of the body, and   wherein the classification of each of the one or more internal volumes is determined based at least in part on the transformed computed tomography scan data and the one or more locations.   
     
     
         15 . A system comprising:
 a positron emission tomography scanner to determine one or more locations within a body, the one or more locations associated with radioactivity greater than a threshold level;   a computed tomography scanner to acquire computed tomography scan data of the body; and   a processing system to:
 determine a classification of each of the one or more locations based at least in part on the computed tomography scan data and the associated radioactivity, at least two of the locations classified into different classifications; 
 determine a scanning speed associated with each of a plurality of scanning coordinates, based at least in part on the locations and the classification of each of the locations; and 
 control the positron emission tomography scanner to scan the body over each of the scanning coordinates at the associated scanning speed. 
   
     
     
         16 . A system according to  claim 15 , the processing system further to:
 segment the computed tomography scan data to acquire three-dimensional coordinates of anatomical region boundaries,   wherein the scanning speed associated with each of the plurality of scanning coordinates is determined based at least in part on the locations, the classification of each of the locations, the three-dimensional coordinates of anatomical region boundaries, and data associating each of a plurality of diseases with one or more anatomical regions and each of the one or more with a relative scanning speed.   
     
     
         17 . A system according to  claim 16 , the processing system further to:
 generate an attenuation coefficient map based on the computed tomography scan data,   wherein the scanning speed associated with each of the plurality of scanning coordinates is determined based at least in part on the locations, the classification of each of the locations, the three-dimensional coordinates of anatomical region boundaries, the data associating anatomical regions with relative scanning speeds, and the attenuation coefficient map.   
     
     
         18 . A system according to  claim 15 , the processing system further to:
 generate an attenuation coefficient map based on the computed tomography scan data,   wherein the scanning speed associated with each of the plurality of scanning coordinates is determined based at least in part on the locations, the classification of each of the locations, and the attenuation coefficient map.   
     
     
         19 . A system according to  claim 15 , the processing system further to:
 register the computed tomography scan data against previously-acquired computed tomography scan data of the body to determine a registration transformation;   apply the registration transformation to previously-acquired nuclear imaging scan data of the body to generate a transformed nuclear imaging scan data of the body, the previously-acquired nuclear imaging scan data being temporally and spatially associated with the previously-acquired computed tomography scan data; and   applying the registration transformation to the previously-acquired computed tomography scan data of the body to generate transformed computed tomography scan data of the body;   wherein the locations are determined based on the transformed nuclear imaging scan data of the body, and   wherein the classification of each of the locations is determined based at least in part on the transformed computed tomography scan data and the one or more locations.