System and method for tracking an invasive device using ultrasound position signals

• US 10,507,006 B2
• Filed: 12/27/2013
• Issued: 12/17/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Samset, Eigil, Haugen, Geir Ultveit
• Primary Examiner(s): Roy, Baisakhi
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mehl, Patrick M
• Application Number:
  US14/141,752
• Publication Number:
  US 20150182187A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,181 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/2063 Acoustic tracking systems, e.g. using ultrasound
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/2072 Reference field transducer attached to an instrument or patient
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/363 Use of fiducial points
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/364 Correlation of different images or relation of image positions in respect to the body
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/3784 both receiver and transmitter being in the instrument or receiver being also transmitter
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/3929 Active markers
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/3966 Radiopaque markers visible in an X-ray image
• 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 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 8/4227 characterised by straps, belts, cuffs or braces
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/4263 using sensors not mounted on the probe, e.g. mounted on an external reference frame
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/4281 characterised by sound-transmitting media or devices for coupling the transducer to the tissue
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/4416 related to combined acquisition of different diagnostic modalities, e.g. combination of ultrasound and X-ray acquisitions
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/4472 Wireless probes
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/4483 characterised by features of the ultrasound transducer
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/4494 characterised by the arrangement of the transducer elements devices for short-range imaging using particular transducer elements arrangements under G01S15/8909; arrangements of transducers in generation of mechanical vibrations of infrasonic, sonic or ultrasonic frequency B06B1/0607
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/463 characterised by displaying multiple images or images and diagnostic data on one display composite display in devices for short-range imaging with acoustic waves G01S7/52074
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/5207 involving processing of raw data to produce diagnostic data, e.g. for generating an image reconstruction G06T11/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/5261 combining images from different diagnostic modalities, e.g. ultrasound and X-ray

Abstract

A system and method for tracking an invasive device includes a localization system configured to be externally attached to a patient. The localization system includes a transducer module including a plurality of transducer elements. The system and method includes an invasive device including at least one device transducer element. The invasive device is configured to either transmit ultrasound position signals to the transducer module or receive ultrasound position signals from the transducer module.

Claims

1. A system for tracking an invasive device, the system comprising:

an ultrasound probe configured to be inserted into a patient'"'"'s body, the ultrasound probe comprising an array including a plurality of transducer elements, wherein the array is configured both for acquiring ultrasound image data and for tracking a position of the ultrasound probe;

a display device;

a localization system comprising;

a substrate configured to be externally attached to the patient;

an ultrasound transducer module comprising at least one transducer element attached to the substrate, where the ultrasound transducer module is configured to communicate ultrasound signals with the array; and

a connector device electrically connected to the ultrasound transducer module; and

a processing unit in electronic communication with the ultrasound transducer module, the display device and the ultrasound probe, wherein the processor is configured to;

determine a position of the ultrasound probe based on the ultrasound signals communicated between the array and the at least one transducer element attached to the substrate;

generate an ultrasound image based on the ultrasound image data acquired by the array;

display the ultrasound image on the display device; and

display the position of the ultrasound probe on the display device based on the ultrasound signals communicated between the array and the at least one transducer element attached to the substrate.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the array is configured to transmit the ultrasound signals to the ultrasound transducer module.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the processing unit is configured to use the ultrasound signals both to generate the ultrasound image and to determine the position of the ultrasound probe.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the ultrasound transducer module is configured to transmit the ultrasound signals to the array.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the array is configured both to transmit a first subset of ultrasound signals to the ultrasound transducer module and to receive a second subset of the ultrasound signals from the ultrasound transducer module, and wherein the processing unit is configured to determine the position of the probe based both on the first subset of the ultrasound signals transmitted from the array to the ultrasound transducer module and on the second subset of the ultrasound signals transmitted from the ultrasound transducer module to the array.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the array is configured to transmit a second plurality of ultrasound signals to generate the ultrasound image data, where the second plurality of ultrasound signals is different than the ultrasound signals used to determine the position of the ultrasound probe.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the array is configured to acquire the ultrasound signals and the second plurality of ultrasound signals by interleaving the ultrasound signals with the second plurality of ultrasound signals.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the substrate includes an adhesive backing configured to be attached to the patient.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the localization system further comprises a fiducial marker that is configured to be detectable by a non-ultrasound modality.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the processing unit is further configured to receive a non-ultrasound image, and wherein the processing unit is configured to display the position of the ultrasound probe with respect to the non-ultrasound image on the display device.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the transducer module comprises a plurality of transducer elements.

12. A method of tracking a position of a probe, the method comprising:

attaching a first plurality of transducer elements to the outside of a patient;

positioning an ultrasound probe inside the patient where the ultrasound probe comprises an array including a second plurality of transducer elements;

communicating ultrasound signals between the array and the first plurality of transducer elements;

determining with a processing unit a position of the ultrasound probe based on the ultrasound signals communicated between the array and the first plurality of transducer elements, wherein the array is further configured to acquire ultrasound image data with the ultrasound signals; and

displaying the position of the ultrasound probe on a display device.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising receiving a non-ultrasound image of the patient, registering the position of the ultrasound probe to the non-ultrasound image, and wherein displaying the position of the ultrasound probe comprises displaying the position of the ultrasound probe with respect to the non-ultrasound image.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein registering the position of the ultrasound probe to the non-ultrasound image comprises using a position of a fiducial marker that is attached to an ultrasound transducer module with at least one of the first plurality of transducer elements.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the non-ultrasound image comprises an X-ray image or a CT image.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein the first plurality of transducer elements are attached to one or more skin patches and each of the one or more skin patches is attached to the patient via an adhesive backing.

16. A method of tracking a position of a probe, the method comprising:

attaching a first plurality of transducer elements to the outside of a patient;

positioning an ultrasound probe inside the patient, where the ultrasound probe comprises an array including a second plurality of transducer elements,

communicating ultrasound signals between the array and the first plurality of transducer elements;

determining with a processing unit a position of the ultrasound probe based on the ultrasound signals communicated between the array and the first plurality of transducer elements; and

displaying the position of the ultrasound probe on a display device,

wherein the array is configured to acquire ultrasound image data with a second plurality of ultrasound signals that are different than the ultrasound signals.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising receiving a non-ultrasound image of the patient, registering the position of the ultrasound probe to the non-ultrasound image.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein registering the position of the ultrasound probe to the non-ultrasound image comprises using a position of a fiducial marker that is attached to an ultrasound transducer module with at least one of the first plurality of transducer elements.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the non-ultrasound image comprises an X-ray image or a CT image.

21. The method of claim 16, wherein the first plurality of transducer elements are attached to one or more skin patches and each of the one or more skin patches is attached to the patient via an adhesive backing.