Apparatus and method for airway registration and navigation

• US 10,264,947 B2
• Filed: 08/22/2011
• Issued: 04/23/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/20/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Veran Medical Technologies, Inc. (Olympus Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Veran Medical Technologies, Inc. (Olympus Corporation)
• Inventors: Holsing, Troy, Hunter, Mark
• Primary Examiner(s): Gillman, Amelie R
• Application Number:
  US13/215,036
• Publication Number:
  US 20120059248A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,801 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/00009 of image signals during a use of endoscope
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/0005 combining images e.g. side-by-side, superimposed or tiled
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/00094 Suction openings
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/04 combined with photographic or television appliances
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/2676 Bronchoscopes
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/2051 Electromagnetic tracking systems
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/2061 using shape-sensors, e.g. fiber shape sensors with Bragg gratings
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/2063 Acoustic tracking systems, e.g. using ultrasound
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/2065 Tracking using image or pattern recognition
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/2068 using pointers, e.g. pointers having reference marks for determining coordinates of body points
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 34/20 Surgical navigation systems; Devices for tracking or guiding surgical instruments, e.g. for frameless stereotaxis
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0066 Optical coherence imaging
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/061 Determining position of a probe within the body employing means separate from the probe, e.g. sensing internal probe position employing impedance electrodes on the surface of the body A61B1/00158 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/062 using magnetic field
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/064 using markers A61B5/062 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/065 Determining position of the probe employing exclusively positioning means located on or in the probe, e.g. using position sensors arranged on the probe
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/066 Superposing sensor position on an image of the patient, e.g. obtained by ultrasound or x-ray imaging
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/113 occurring during breathing
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/352 Detecting R peaks, e.g. for synchronising diagnostic apparatus; Estimating R-R interval
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/415 the glands, e.g. tonsils, adenoids or thymus
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/418 : lymph vessels, ducts or nodes
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/0841 : for locating instruments
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/12 : in body cavities or body tracts, e.g. by using catheters catheters per se A61M25/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 90/39 : Markers, e.g. radio-opaque or breast lesions markers
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2025/09183 : having tools at the distal tip
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 25/09 : Guide wires
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30061 : Lung

Abstract

A surgical instrument navigation system is provided that visually simulates a virtual volumetric scene of a body cavity of a patient from a point of view of a surgical instrument residing in the cavity of the patient. The surgical instrument navigation system includes: a surgical instrument; an imaging device which is operable to capture scan data representative of an internal region of interest within a given patient; a tracking subsystem that employs electro-magnetic sensing to capture in real-time position data indicative of the position of the surgical instrument; a data processor which is operable to render a volumetric, perspective image of the internal region of interest from a point of view of the surgical instrument; and a display which is operable to display the volumetric perspective image of the patient.

Claims

1. A method for modifying a patient'"'"'s inspiration scans to the patient'"'"'s expiration cycle for navigation comprising:

a) creating an image dataset of a lung lobe, the main carina and an airway within the lung lobe of a lung of a patient, the image dataset comprising an inspiration image at a first time depicting the lung lobe, main carina and the airway at inspiration, an expiration image at a second time different from the first time depicting the lung lobe, main carina and the airway at expiration, wherein at least a portion of the airway depicted in the inspiration image is not depicted in the expiration image and at least a portion of the lung lobe and airway change in shape and size between inspiration and expiration; and

b) creating a fused inspiration to expiration airway model in which the airway depicted in the inspiration image from the first time is mapped to a spatial representation of the airway at expiration at the second time, comprising the steps of;

i) segmenting the inspiration image to form an inspiration segmented lung lobe model;

ii) segmenting the expiration image to form an expiration segmented lung lobe model;

iii) segmenting the inspiration image to form an inspiration segmented airway model;

iv) determining a volume difference between the volume of the lung lobe in the inspiration segmented lung lobe model and the volume of the lung lobe in the expiration segmented lung lobe model;

v) using the determined volume difference, shrinking the size of the inspiration segmented airway model from its size in the inspiration image to fit within the expiration image;

vi) determining the centroid of the lung lobe for each of the inspiration segmented lung lobe model and the expiration segmented lung lobe model;

vii) determining a vector change of motion of the centroid of the lung lobe from the main carina between the inspiration segmented lung lobe model and the expiration segmented lung lobe model; and

viii) translating the shrunken inspiration segmented airway model from a position at inspiration to a position at expiration using the determined vector change of motion, wherein the translation is a shift in position of the airway depicted in the inspiration image at the first time to a location in the expiration image at the second time different from the position in the inspiration image;

c) inserting an instrument into the airway of the patient; and

d) navigating the instrument through the airway of the patient using the fused inspiration to expiration airway model.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

selecting a target depicted in the expiration image; and

identifying the target in the fused inspiration to expiration airway model.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising recording localization data of the inserted instrument.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising generating a travelled path of the instrument in the airway using the recorded localization data.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

e) affixing a patient tracking device comprising a plurality of markers to an external surface of a patient;

f) deriving a respiratory signal using the patient tracking device; and

g) gating the localization data of the instrument in the airway by synchronizing the recorded localization data with the derived respiratory signal.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising registering the fused inspiration to expiration airway model to the gated localization information of the instrument.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the inspiration image and the expiration image further comprise branching points or segments of branching points of the patient'"'"'s airway and the fused inspiration to expiration airway model comprises the branching points or segments of branching points in the patient'"'"'s airway.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising rendering a volumetric perspective view of a region of interest comprising the airway.