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Washington University in St. Louis

Advances in real-time thoracic guidance systems

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

Substantial tissue motion: >1cm) arises in the thoracic/abdominal cavity due to respiration. There are many clinical applications in which localizing tissue with high accuracy: <1mm) is important. Potential applications include radiation therapy, radio frequency ablation, lung/liver biopsies, and brachytherapy seed placement. Recent efforts have made highly accurate sub-mm 3D localization of discrete points available via electromagnetic: EM) position monitoring. Technology from Calypso Medical allows for simultaneous tracking of up to three implanted wireless transponders. Additionally, Medtronic Navigation uses wired electromagnetic tracking to guide surgical tools for image guided surgery: IGS). Utilizing real-time EM position monitoring, a prototype system was developed to guide a therapeutic linear accelerator to follow a moving target: tumor) within the lung/abdomen. In a clinical setting, electromagnetic transponders would be bronchoscopically implanted into the lung of the patient in or near the tumor. These transponders would ax to the lung tissue in a stable manner and allow real-time position knowledge throughout a course of radiation therapy. During each dose of radiation, the beam is either halted when the target is outside of a given threshold, or in a later study the beam follows the target in real-time based on the EM position monitoring. We present quantitative analysis of the accuracy and efficiency of the radiation therapy tumor tracking system. EM tracking shows promise for IGS applications. Tracking the position of the instrument tip allows for minimally invasive intervention and alleviates the trauma associated with conventional surgery. Current clinical IGS implementations are limited to static targets: e.g. craniospinal, neurological, and orthopedic intervention. We present work on the development of a respiratory correlated image guided surgery: RCIGS) system. In the RCIGS system, target positions are modeled via respiratory correlated imaging: 4DCT) coupled with a breathing surrogate representative of the patient's respiratory phase/amplitude. Once the target position is known with respect to the surrogate, intervention can be performed when the target is in the correct location. The RCIGS system consists of imaging techniques and custom developed software to give visual and auditory feedback to the surgeon indicating both the proper location and time for intervention. Presented here are the details of the IGS lung system along with quantitative results of the system accuracy in motion phantom, ex-vivo porcine lung, and human cadaver environments.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Level thesis:degree_level
Dissertation
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Biomedical Engineering
Year dc:date.available
2011

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Smith, Ryan
Contributors dc:contributor
  • Parag Parikh

Subjects

dc:subject × 8

Rights

Language dc:language
English (en)

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:openscholarship.wustl.edu:etd-1326

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Washington University in St. Louis
Base URL
openscholarship.wustl.edu/do/oai/
Last updated
2026-07-24
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Smith, Ryan. Advances in real-time thoracic guidance systems. Dissertation thesis, 2011. https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/etd/327