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.

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.