US-20260128187-A1 - SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR POSITIONING RADIATION SHIELD

Abstract

A system and method are provided for reducing radiation exposure in a procedure room using a radiation shield. The method determines first position data indicating a position of a clinician in the procedure room and determines second position data indicating a position of an imaging source of an imaging system in the procedure room. The method further applies a radiation model to estimate a radiation pattern of radiation emitted by the imaging source based on the first position data and the second position data. The method further applies a shield positioning model to predict an optimal position of the radiation shield that minimizes exposure of the at least one clinician to the emitted radiation based on the estimated radiation pattern, the first position data, and the second position data.

Inventors

• Leili Salehi
• Ayushi Sinha
• Javad Fotouhi
• Ramon Quido Erkamp
• Vipul Shrihari Pai Raikar
• Sean Joseph KYNE

Assignees

• KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS N.V.

Dates

Publication Date

20260507

Application Date

20231007

Claims (20)

1. 1 . A system for reducing radiation exposure in a procedure room using a radiation shield, the system comprising: a controller comprising a processor and memory, the processor configured to: receive first position data indicating a position of at least one clinician in a procedure room; receive second position data indicating a position of an imaging source of an imaging device configured to provide image data of a patient in the procedure room; estimate a radiation pattern of radiation emitted by the imaging source based on the first position data and the second position data; and predict an optimal position of a radiation shield in the procedure room that minimizes exposure of the at least one clinician to the emitted radiation based on the estimated radiation pattern, the first position data, and the second position data.
2. 2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the radiation shield comprises a plurality of interconnected sections, wherein: at least one section of the plurality of interconnected sections is configured to fold and unfold relative to another section of the plurality of interconnected sections for changing a coverage area of the plurality of interconnected sections, and at least one section of the plurality of interconnected sections comprises a plurality of panels, wherein at least one panel of the plurality of panels is configured to slide relative to another panel of the plurality of panels for changing the coverage area of the plurality of interconnected sections.
3. 3 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the prediction of the optimal position of a radiation shield that minimizes exposure of the at least one clinician to the emitted radiation comprises prediction of: (i) a position of the at least one section of the plurality of interconnected sections relative to the another section of the plurality of interconnected sections and (ii) a position of the at least one panel of the plurality of panels relative to the another panel of the plurality of panels.
4. 4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to apply a radiation model configured to estimate the radiation pattern based on the first position data and the second position data.
5. 5 . The system of claim 4 , wherein the radiation model is further configured to estimate the radiation based on settings of the imaging source, wherein the settings include at least one of dosage, frame rate, exposure time, and collimation of the radiation emitted by the X-ray source.
6. 6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to apply a shield positioning model configured to predict the optimal position of the radiation shield based on the position of the at least one clinician indicated by the first position data, the position of the imaging source indicated by the second position data, and the estimated radiation pattern.
7. 7 . The system of claim 6 , wherein the shield positioning model is a machine-learning model that comprises at least one of an artificial neural network (ANN) algorithm, a convolutional neural network (CNN) algorithm, and a recurrent neural network (RNN) algorithm.
8. 8 . The system of claim 6 , further comprising a second processor configured to train the shield positioning model, the second processor configured to: receive previous first position data indicating positions of the at least one clinician during previous procedures; receive previous second position data indicating positions of the imaging source during the previous procedures; receive radiation patterns of the imaging during the previous procedures based on the previous first position data and the previous second position data; input the previous first position data, the previous second position data, and the estimated radiation patterns to the shield positioning model; estimate, using the shield positioning model, an optimal configuration of the radiation shield that minimizes exposure of the at least one clinician to radiation from the imaging source; and adjust parameters of the shield positioning model based on a difference between the estimated optimal configuration and a ground truth optimal configuration of the radiation shield.
9. 9 . The system of claim 6 , wherein the shield positioning model comprises one or more loss functions configured to predict the optimal position based on at least one of: minimization of radiation exposure to a clinician of the at least one clinician standing closest to the imaging source; avoidance of obscuring or inhibiting access to a region of interest; and protection of an anatomical region of interest from the imaging radiation.
10. 10 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising: the radiation shield comprising the radiation shielding material; and at least one sensor configured to provide at least one of the first position data, the second position data, and position data of one or more other objects in the procedure room.
11. 11 . The system of claim 10 , further comprising: at least one motor configured to move at least a portion of the radiation shield, wherein the processor is further configured to operate the at least one motor to move the radiation shield to the optimal position.
12. 12 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the at least one sensor comprises an internal encoder configured to receive motion data indicating movement of the motion source during the procedure, wherein the second position data comprises the motion data.
13. 13 . The system of claim 1 , wherein: the first position data further indicates a position of a region of interest on the patient, and the processor is further configured to predict the optimal position of the radiation shield to at least one of (i) prevent the radiation shield to obscure or inhibit access to the region of interest and (ii) protect of the region of interest from the X-ray radiation.
14. 14 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the first position data further indicates positions of one or more objects in the procedure room, including at least one of the radiation shield and an operating table.
15. 15 . A method for reducing radiation exposure in a procedure room using a radiation shield, the method comprising: determining first position data indicating a position of at least one clinician in a procedure room; determining second position data indicating a position of an imaging source of an imaging device configured to provide image data of a patient in the procedure room; estimating a radiation pattern of radiation emitted by the imaging source based on the first position data and the second position data; and predicting an optimal position of a radiation shield in the procedure room that minimizes exposure of the at least one clinician to the emitted radiation based on the estimated radiation pattern, the first position data, and the second position data.
16. 16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the radiation shield comprises a plurality of interconnected sections, wherein: at least one section of the plurality of interconnected sections is configured to fold and unfold relative to another section of the plurality of interconnected sections for changing a coverage area of the plurality of interconnected sections, and at least one section of the plurality of interconnected sections comprises a plurality of panels, wherein at least one panel of the plurality of panels is configured to slide relative to another panel of the plurality of panels for changing the coverage area of the plurality of interconnected sections; and the predicting of the optimal position of a radiation shield that minimizes exposure of the at least one clinician to the emitted radiation comprises prediction of: (i) a position of the at least one section of the plurality of interconnected sections relative to the another section of the plurality of interconnected sections and (ii) a position of the at least one panel of the plurality of panels relative to the another panel of the plurality of panels.
17. 17 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the predicting of the optimal position of a radiation shield comprises apply a shield positioning model comprising a machine-learning model trained to predict the optimal position of the radiation shield based on the position of the at least one clinician indicated by the first position data, the position of the imaging source indicated by the second position data, and the estimated radiation pattern.
18. 18 . A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored a computer program comprising, which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to: determine first position data indicating a position of at least one clinician in a procedure room; determine second position data indicating a position of an imaging source of an imaging device configured to provide image data of a patient in the procedure room; estimate a radiation pattern of radiation emitted by the imaging source based on the first position data and the second position data; and predict an optimal position of a radiation shield in the procedure room that minimizes exposure of the at least one clinician to the emitted radiation based on the estimated radiation pattern, the first position data, and the second position data.
19. 19 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 18 , wherein the radiation shield comprises a plurality of interconnected sections, wherein: at least one section of the plurality of interconnected sections is configured to fold and unfold relative to another section of the plurality of interconnected sections for changing a coverage area of the plurality of interconnected sections, and at least one section of the plurality of interconnected sections comprises a plurality of panels, wherein at least one panel of the plurality of panels is configured to slide relative to another panel of the plurality of panels for changing the coverage area of the plurality of interconnected sections; and the prediction of the optimal position of a radiation shield that minimizes exposure of the at least one clinician to the emitted radiation comprises prediction of: (i) a position of the at least one section of the plurality of interconnected sections relative to the another section of the plurality of interconnected sections and (ii) a position of the at least one panel of the plurality of panels relative to the another panel of the plurality of panels.
20. 20 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 18 , wherein to predict the optimal position of a radiation shield, the instruction, when executed by the processor, further cause the processor to: apply a shield positioning model comprising a machine-learning model trained to predict the optimal position of the radiation shield based on the position of the at least one clinician indicated by the first position data, the position of the imaging source indicated by the second position data, and the estimated radiation pattern.

Description

BACKGROUND Repeated exposure to high amounts of ionizing radiation may lead to health issues, such as erythema, hair loss, dermal atrophy, fibrosis, desquamation, dermal necrosis, cataracts, decrease in red blood cell production and infertility. For example, medical imaging that emits radiation (e.g., X-ray imaging) is needed to provide real-time and near real-time images during certain interventional procedures performed within a procedure room. Therefore, radiation exposure is a problem for many medical personnel, including physicians, radiologists, interventionists and staff, as well as for patients, located within the procedure room during repeated procedures involving the emission of radiation. For example, between 2012 and 2015, nine cases of left-sided brain/head-and-neck tumors in interventional cardiologists had been reported, according to a Cleveland Clinic report from 2015, entitled “Radiation a Danger to Patients and Physicians Alike” (https://consultqd.clevelandclinic.org/). Interventionalists may also receive increased doses of radiation to their hands during several procedures. Even low amounts of radiation exposure may damage the genetic material in reproductive cells and increase chromosomal abnormalities. Radiation exposure may also alter DNA over time, as studies have shown increases in chromosomal abnormalities in medical personnel who are interventionalists, compared with those who are non-interventionalists. Long term presence of the medical personnel procedure rooms using X-ray imaging systems, for example, may cause some health issues caused by ionizing radiation. The amount of the radiation dose emitted towards the medical personnel depends on C-arm orientation and location of the radiation source, patient size and position, and locations of medical personnel and patient relative to the C-arm/radiation source and the operating table. Protective shields and lead jackets may reduce the received doses of radiation, however they have limitations and drawbacks that contribute to the dissatisfaction of the medical personnel. Indeed, the limited size of the protective shields above the operating table and sometimes its improper position and orientation may increase the amount of the radiation received by the medical personnel. In addition, protective lead jackets are cumbersome and heavy, and may cause musculoskeletal problems after long-term usage. Protective shields may be provided in attempts to attenuate the radiation exposure. However, sometimes large amounts of radiation may still be received by the medical personnel due to factors such as inappropriate sizes, locations and/or orientations of the protective shields. Using more than one protective shield may increase protection, but it also contributes to room clutter and distraction. Manual repositioning of protective shields is time consuming and distracting, and requires caution and attention with regard to constantly estimating the best position and orientation based on changing C-arm positions. Therefore, manual repositioning typically does not provide optimal positions of the protective shields during procedures in response to movements of the C-arm and/or the medical personnel. Accordingly, there is a clinical need for reducing doses of radiation exposure of medical personnel by automatically repositioning the radiation protection shields based on the number and location of medical professionals standing near the patient on an operating table, objects near the operating table and the angle of the C-arm. SUMMARY According to representative embodiments, a system is provided for reducing exposure to X-ray radiation of at least one clinician in a procedure room. The system includes a controller comprising a processor and memory, the processor configured to: receive first position data indicating a position of at least one clinician in a procedure room; receive second position data indicating a position of an imaging source of an imaging device configured to provide image data of a patient in the procedure room; estimate a radiation pattern of radiation emitted by the imaging source based on the first position data and the second position data; and predict an optimal position of a radiation shield in the procedure room that minimizes exposure of the at least one clinician to the emitted radiation based on the estimated radiation pattern, the first position data, and the second position data. The system may also include the radiation shield formed of radiation shielding material; and at least one sensor configured to provide the first position data indicating a position of the at least one clinician in the procedure room and the second position data indicating a position of an X-ray source of an X-ray imaging device configured to provide image data of a patient in the procedure room. According to other representative embodiments, a method is provided for reducing exposure of at least one clinician to X-ray radiation from an X-ray sou