Atlas-Based Production of a Medical Support Device

Abstract

The present invention relates to a medical data processing method of determining a three-dimensional shape of a medical support device for supporting an anatomical body part of a patient, the method being constituted to be executed by a computer and comprising the following steps acquiring body part geometry data describing a geometry of the anatomical body part; acquiring medical procedure data describing an envisaged medical procedure to be carried out on the patient; acquiring atlas data describing a general three-dimensional shape of the anatomical body part; determining, based on the body part geometry data and the medical procedure data and the atlas data, support device geometry data describing the geometry of the support device.

Claims

1. A medical support device for supporting an anatomical body part of a patient, the support device generated by a rapid prototyping process including a three-dimensional printing process, comprising: a support surface having a geometry adapted to the geometry of the anatomical body part of the patient; and a medical accessory being at least one of the following: a drain part for draining a liquid; an instrument support for supporting a medical instrument; a hand rest for a user's hand, the user not being identical to the patient; a fixation unit for fixing the support device to a patient bed; a mounting interface for mounting the support device to the patient; and a marking, in particular at least one of a divot, a through-hole and a graphical feature; the medical accessory further including an opening for placing in the vicinity of a sensitive body part of the patient at a position through which a treatment beam is to be directed for irradiating the anatomical target region with treatment radiation emitted from a treatment device.

2. The medical support device according to claim 1, wherein the medical accessory includes at least the marking, wherein the marking fulfils at least one of the following requirements: the marking has a predetermined spatial relationship to the anatomical body part and/or an anatomical structure and serves as a positioning aid for positioning the medical support device relative to the anatomical body part; or the marking is a marker device for detection by a navigation system, in particular a marker device comprising a Moire pattern.

3. The medical support device according to claim 2, wherein all parts of the support device are integrally formed in the three-dimensional printing process.

4. The medical support device of claim 1 wherein the medical support device is generated by the three-dimensional printing process including: acquired body part geometry data describing a geometry of the anatomical body part; acquired medical procedure data describing a medical procedure to be carried out on the patient; acquired atlas data describing a general three-dimensional shape of the anatomical body part; and determined based on the body part geometry data and the medical procedure data and the atlas data, support device geometry data describing the geometry of the medical support device; wherein the three-dimensional printing process generates a form fit between the geometry of the medical support device and the anatomical body part with the medical support device distributing a weight of the anatomical body part of the patient by printing the medical support device layer by layer.

5. A medical support device for supporting an anatomical body part of a patient, the support device generated by a rapid prototyping process including a three-dimensional printing process, comprising: a support surface on the support device having a geometry which is adapted to the geometry of the anatomical body part of the patient; the medical support device generated by the three-dimensional printing process which includes: acquired body part geometry data describing a geometry of the anatomical body part; acquired medical procedure data describing a medical procedure to be carried out on the patient; acquired atlas data describing a general three-dimensional shape of the anatomical body part; and determined based on the body part geometry data and the medical procedure data and the atlas data, support device geometry data describing the geometry of the medical support device; wherein the three-dimensional printing process generates a form fit between the geometry of the medical support device and the anatomical body part with the medical support device distributing a weight of the anatomical body part of the patient by printing the medical support device layer by layer; in combination with the medical support device, a medical accessory being at least one of the following: a drain part for draining a liquid; an instrument support for supporting a medical instrument; a hand rest for a user's hand, the user not being identical to the patient; a fixation unit for fixing the support device to a patient bed; a mounting interface for mounting the support device to the patient; a marking, in particular at least one of a divot, a through-hole and a graphical feature; the medical accessory further including an opening for placing in the vicinity of a sensitive body part of the patient.

6. The medical support device according to claim 5, wherein the medical accessory includes at least the marking, wherein the marking: has a predetermined spatial relationship to the anatomical body part and/or an anatomical structure and serves as a positioning aid for positioning the medical support device relative to the anatomical body part; or is a marker device for detection by a navigation system, in particular a marker device embodied by a Moire pattern.

7. The medical support device according to claim 5, wherein all parts of the support device are integrally formed in the three-dimensional printing process.

8. A medical support device for supporting an anatomical body part of a patient, the support device generated by a rapid prototyping process including a three-dimensional printing process, comprising: a support surface geometry of the medical support device having the geometry of the anatomical body part of the patient; wherein the medical support device is generated by the rapid prototyping process including the three-dimensional printing process which includes: acquired body part geometry data describing a geometry of the anatomical body part; acquire medical procedure data describing a medical procedure to be carried out on the patient; acquired atlas data describing a general three-dimensional shape of the anatomical body part; and determined support device geometry data, based on the body part geometry data and the medical procedure data and from the atlas data, describing the geometry of the medical support device; wherein there is a form fit between a geometry of the medical support device and the anatomical body part with the medical support device thereby distributing a weight of the anatomical body part of the patient resulting from printing the medical support device layer by layer; and a medical accessory associated with the medical support device, the medical accessory being at least one of the following: a drain part for draining a liquid; an instrument support for supporting a medical instrument; a hand rest for a user's hand, the user not being identical to the patient; a fixation unit for fixing the support device to a patient bed; a mounting interface for mounting the support device to the patient; and a marking, in particular at least one of a divot, a through-hole and a graphical feature.

9. The medical support device of claim 8 wherein the medical accessory includes an opening for placing in the vicinity of a sensitive body part of the patient at a position through which a treatment beam is to be directed for irradiating an anatomical target region with treatment radiation emitted from a treatment device.

Description

DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

[0052] In the following, an example embodiment of the inventive method will be described with reference to the figure, wherein the invention shall not be limited to the features described in connection with the figures, and wherein

[0053] FIG. 1 is a flow diagram of an embodiment of the inventive method in which both atlas data and medical image data serve as a basis for determining the geometry of the support device; and

[0054] FIG. 2 is an illustration of an exemplary support device embodied by a head rest.

[0055] As shown in FIG. 1, step S1.1 encompasses acquiring the initial geometry data describing an initial geometry embodied by a base block design of the material from which the support device is to be produced. Step S1.2 encompasses detecting the anatomy of the anatomical body part in pre-operative CT or MRI scans and thus relates to acquiring the aforementioned anatomical body part geometry data embodied by medical image data. Step S1.3 encompasses acquiring the aforementioned medical procedure data in order to plan a surgical access path and the orientation of the anatomical body part. Step S1.4 encompasses acquiring a suitable atlas and therefore encompasses the step of acquiring the atlas data based on in particular the medical image data acquired in step S1.2.

[0056] Step S2.1 encompasses determining the support device geometry data by subtracting, from the base block of material, the patient's anatomy determined from the atlas and advantageously also the pre-operative scans. The anatomy is subtracted from the base block preferably in the correct orientation for the envisaged medical procedure, in particular for a surgical approach, with an additional margin (which considers padding and draping of the situs). In step S2.2, the atlas data is used as an additional basis for identifying the positions of sensitive organs from the atlas matching the anatomical body part. On this basis, step S3 continues with subtracting material from the base block design (i.e. the initial geometry) in the vicinity of sensitive organs so as to leave the sensitive organs (for example the ears, the eyes, the nose or the mouth of the patient) uncovered by the support device.

[0057] Purely optional step S4 contains a step of subtracting access material from the base block design until a minimum thickness of the support structure is reached to reduce the weight of the support structure and allow a flux of liquids and great ducts for e.g. cables or other medical equipment (in particular medical instruments). Thus, step S4 includes the step of acquiring accessory data.

[0058] Step S5 then continues with determining the support device geometry data based on the accessory data by for example adding additional elements to the support device such as mounting posts for medical accessories, fixation equipment, hand rests and/or markings as medical accessory.

[0059] FIG. 2 illustrates an embodiment of the support device being a head rest 1 for a patient's head 2 which is an embodiment of the aforementioned anatomical body part. The head rest 1 comprises supports 4 which are positioned at disjunct support positions and comprise support surfaces 5 which are adapted to the geometry of the exterior surface of the patient's head 2. The support positions have been determined such that the patient's right ear 3 embodying a sensitive organ is not covered by a part of the head rest 1 so as to avoid discomfort for the patient. The head rest 1 has been produced as one integral part by one of the aforementioned generative manufacturing processes.