Motion tracking and compensation techniques for medical imaging and therapeutic procedures

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The objective of this proposal is to develop and implement motion tracking and compensation techniques for medical imaging and therapeutic procedures. The techniques will be based on two technologies under developing by our group: positron emission based real-time tracking (PeTrack) and dynamic dual-energy x-ray imaging. The research will be carried out in the following areas: a. Radiation therapy. PeTrack can provide real-time tumour tracking with very low dose to normal tissue. It will improve the feasibility of precise respiration gated radiation therapy, tumour tracked radiation therapy , and robotic motion compensated radiosurgery. The implantation of positron emission markers, whose diameters are 0.8 mm - 0.5 mm, will be easier than the implantation of larger existing markers. Dynamic Dual-Energy Imaging can be used for lung tumour motion pre-treatment assessment at a much lower dose compared to 4D CT. b. Interventional procedures. Other procedures, such as biopsy, radiofrequency ablation, catheterization, etc, require accurate positioning of the instruments. PeTrack, as a novel tracking technique, has the advantages of being flexible, wireless and using miniature markers. It can overcome some of the limitations of current positioning techniques. c. Motion compensation for Positron Emission tomography(PET). Due to its long imaging time, PET imaging suffers from patient motion such as respiratory motion. With the accurate patient motion information provided by PeTrack, new reconstruction techniques can be developed to compensate the motion and eliminate motion artifacts. d. Functional imaging of lung. Dynamic Dual-Energy Imaging also has the potential for lung function imaging such as regional ventilation and lung kinetic study.