Out-licensing

Online CT-Assisted Targeting and Positioning System for Radiotherapy

Recent developments in radiotherapy equipment design have brought about in-room volumetric image-guided radiotherapy systems, such as the integrated computed tomography (CT)/linear accelerator (LINAC) systems or the Cone-beam CT/LINAC systems which allow three dimensional targeting of soft-tissue tumours and/or avoiding nearby critical structures to reduce treatment-related toxicity. This in-room CT-Assisted Targeting (CAT) technology has the potential to become routine practice. However, the implementation of CT-guided localisation just prior to radiation treatment (such as IMRT) is impeded by the lack of a precise, efficient, and robust method to align the treatment day CT images with the CT images used for treatment planning.

Conclusion

Scientists from MD Anderson Cancer Center have designed an integrated software tool that can be used with CT/LINAC integrated systems for CT-guided radiotherapy. This software has unique automated image registration of soft tissue or bony structures of interest, verification of alignment in axial, coronal, or sagittal planes with the original treatment plan, easy interactive manual adjustment if necessary, quality assurance tool for comparing digitally reconstructed radiographs with online electronic portal images, and quantitative positional analysis capabilities. Several validation experiments using phantoms have been completed, and several hundred retrospective patient imaging studies are underway to fully validate this novel CAT software program. The CAT software enables the clinical use of the CT-guided setup for high-precision image-guided radiotherapy just prior to the start of treatment.

Relevance/Opportunity

This technology provides a much-needed integrated solution for in-room CT-guided radiotherapy that the industry currently lacks. This program can significantly speed up the alignment process, and drastically reduces potential errors and inaccuracies due to human observer subjectivity in making 3D image comparisons. Validation of image registration is also done very efficiently with minimal user intervention. Please enquire regarding licensing partnerships quoting reference no. MDA04-097 / 08-06-04 / EOH.

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