System and method for planning and monitoring multi-dose radiopharmaceutical usage on radiopharmaceutical injectors

Abstract

A method for planning and monitoring radiopharmaceutical usage during a plurality of radiopharmaceutical injection procedures includes: providing a schedule of the plurality of radiopharmaceutical injection procedures to produce a planned patient schedule; based on the planned patient schedule, calculating a multi-dose container configuration for use during the plurality of radiopharmaceutical injection procedures; transferring the planned patient schedule to a radiopharmaceutical fluid delivery system; loading the multi-dose patient configuration into the radiopharmaceutical fluid delivery system; and conducting the plurality of radiopharmaceutical injection procedures based on the planned patient schedule.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of planning and monitoring radiopharmaceutical usage, the method comprising:
 based on a patient schedule, determining a multi-dose container configuration for use during a plurality of radiopharmaceutical injection procedures;   transferring the patient schedule to a radiopharmaceutical fluid delivery system;   providing the multi-dose container configuration to the radiopharmaceutical fluid delivery system;   conducting the plurality of radiopharmaceutical injection procedures based on the patient schedule;   monitoring the multi-dose container configuration during the plurality of radiopharmaceutical injection procedures;   determining whether there is a risk that at least one of the plurality of radiopharmaceutical injection procedures may not be completed properly due to one or more patient schedule changes; and   providing an alert in response to the risk being determined,   wherein at least one of the transferring step, the providing step, the monitoring step, and the providing the alert step is performed using a wireless communication media.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the patient schedule comprises, for each of a plurality of patients, a time of a radiopharmaceutical injection procedure for a patient and an activity of radiopharmaceutical to be removed from the multi-dose container configuration for the patient. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the multi-dose container configuration includes a plurality of multi-dose containers each holding a different radiopharmaceutical fluid. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 editing the patient schedule after providing the multi-dose container configuration to accommodate one or more patient schedule changes selected from the group consisting of an additional patient, a cancelled patient, a time modification for a patient on the patient schedule, and a modification to an activity of radiopharmaceutical to be removed from the multi-dose container configuration for a patient on the patient schedule.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising:
 updating the patient schedule to accommodate a maximum number of the plurality of radiopharmaceutical injection procedures in response to the risk being determined.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein updating the patient schedule comprises running an algorithm to produce an updated patient schedule having update values for at least one of a time for each remaining injection procedure, an updated activity of a dose to be administered in each of the remaining injection procedures, an updated volume of radiopharmaceutical to be administered in each of the remaining injection procedures, and combinations thereof. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein monitoring the multi-dose container configuration comprises:
 determining a remaining activity and volume of radiopharmaceutical in the multi-dose container configuration to provide a remaining activity estimation; and   adjusting the remaining activity estimation based on isotope decay.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 displaying the patient schedule on a graphical user interface of the radiopharmaceutical fluid delivery system.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the graphical user interface is a touch-screen. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein transferring the patient schedule to the radiopharmaceutical fluid delivery system comprises wirelessly transferring the patient schedule to the radiopharmaceutical fluid delivery system 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the patient schedule comprises at least one of a time of an injection procedure and an activity of a dose to be administered to a patient. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising after the risk is determined, suggesting a resolution to the risk, wherein the suggested resolution comprises at least one of suggesting an adjustment to a scheduled time of one or more of remaining injection procedures, suggesting an adjustment to an activity of a dose of one or more of the remaining injection procedures, and cancelling one or more of the remaining injection procedures. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein suggesting an adjustment to the activity of the dose comprises presenting an operator with a range of dose activity levels that are available to administer in one or more of the remaining injection procedures. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising wirelessly transferring an infusion record from the radiopharmaceutical fluid delivery system to a remote computer. 
     
     
         15 . A system for planning and monitoring multi-dose radiopharmaceutical procedures to maximize a number of injection procedures and minimize an amount of wasted radiopharmaceutical, the system comprising:
 means receiving a schedule of injection procedures into the system; and   means for adjusting the schedule of injection procedures in response to one or more schedule changes, to maximize the number of injection procedures and minimize an amount of wasted radiopharmaceutical.   
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the means for receiving the schedule of injection procedures into the system comprises a control system configured for receiving an inputted schedule of injection procedures and wirelessly transferring the schedule of injection procedures to a radiopharmaceutical fluid delivery system. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the schedule of injection procedures comprises a time of a plurality of injection procedures, a required activity level of a dose for each of the plurality of injection procedures, and wherein the control system provides a user with a plurality of multi-dose radiopharmaceutical container configurations that can complete the schedule of injection procedures. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the multi-dose radiopharmaceutical container configuration is further determined by at least one factor selected from the group consisting of radiopharmaceutical delivery logistics, distance from a radiopharmaceutical production facility, radiopharmaceutical container size, flexibility of the radiopharmaceutical, production schedule of the radiopharmaceutical production facility, injection system loses of radiopharmaceutical, and a radiopharmaceutical half-life. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the means for adjusting the schedule of injection procedures comprises a control system configured for adjusting the schedule of injection procedures to accommodate add-on patients, cancellations, time modifications to patients already provided on the schedule of injection procedures, modifications to an activity removed from a multi-dose container of radiopharmaceutical to patients already provided on the schedule of injection procedures, or any combination thereof. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 19 , wherein the control system is configured to provide an updated schedule of injection procedures that maximizes the number of injection procedures and minimizes the amount of wasted radiopharmaceutical.