Method of and imaging ultrasound system for determining the position of a catheter

• US 20030060700A1
• Filed: 03/28/2002
• Published: 03/27/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 03/28/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Solf, Torsten, Eck, Kai
• Granted Patent: US 6,587,709 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/411
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/2063 Acoustic tracking systems, e.g. using ultrasound
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/0833 involving detecting or locating foreign bodies or organic structures
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/0841 for locating instruments
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/483 involving the acquisition of a 3D volume of data
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 128/916 Ultrasound 3-D imaging

Abstract

The invention relates to an imaging ultrasound system that is provided with an ultrasound transducer (1) and an image processing unit (2) for the acquisition of a three-dimensional ultrasound image of the body of a patient (11), as well as with a catheter (9) for carrying out a therapeutic or diagnostic intervention in the body of the patient. The catheter (9) accommodates, in addition to the customary instruments necessary to carry out its task, three ultrasound receivers (10a to c) that are mounted at a distance from one another on the tip of the catheter and are capable of detecting the arrival of scan signals of the ultrasound transducer (1). The distance between the ultrasound transducer (1) and the receivers (10a to c) can be calculated from the transit time of the scan signals. The receivers (10a to c) can thus be localized in space; this enables notably the selection of, for example, the plane from the three-dimensional ultrasound data that contains all three receivers (10a to c) of the catheter. The tip of the catheter can thus be automatically tracked and displayed on a monitor (4) at all times without manual displacement of the ultrasound transducer (1) being necessary.

Claims

1. A method of determining the position of a catheter in an ultrasound image acquired by means of an ultrasound transducer, in which method the catheter is provided with at least one ultrasound receiver that detects the reception of ultrasound scanning signals, the distance between the ultrasound transducer and the ultrasound receiver on the catheter being determined from the measured transit time of the scan signals.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the ultrasound transducer acquires a three-dimensional ultrasound image and that the position in space of the ultrasound receiver on the catheter is determined from the measured transit time of the scan signals.

3. A method as claimed in claim 2, characterized in that for display at least one plane is selected from the three-dimensional ultrasound image in dependence on the position determined for the ultrasound receiver.

4. A method as claimed in claim 3, characterized in that the plane that contains at least one but preferably all ultrasound receivers is selected from the three-dimensional ultrasound image for display, so that the position of the catheter can be tracked continuously.

5. A method as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the position of the ultrasound receiver is highlighted in the display of the acquired ultrasound image.

6. A method as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that a sub-region of the scanning volume is determined on the basis of the position determined for the ultrasound receiver, the subsequent ultrasound imaging being concentrated on said sub-region.

7. A method as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that further measuring data, notably electrophysiological data, is acquired by means of the catheter so as to be associated with the position determined for the ultrasound receiver.

12. An imaging system as claimed in claim 8, characterized in that it is arranged to carry out a method as claimed in one of the claims 1 to 7.

8. An imaging ultrasound system for the imaging of a part of a body, which system includes

an ultrasound transducer that is provided with at least one transmission unit for transmitting ultrasound scan signals and with at least one receiving unit for receiving echoes of the scan signals;

an image processing unit that is coupled to the ultrasound transducer and is arranged to calculate an image of the part of the body from the measuring signals provided by the ultrasound transducer;

at least one catheter that is provided with at least one ultrasound receiver that is coupled to the image processing unit,

the image processing unit being arranged to determine the distance between the transmission unit of the ultrasound transducer and the ultrasound receiver on the catheter from the transit time of the scan signals.

9. An imaging ultrasound system as claimed in claim 8, characterized in that the ultrasound transducer is provided with a plurality of transmission units and receiving units and is arranged to acquire a three-dimensional ultrasound image in conjunction with the image processing unit.

10. An imaging ultrasound system as claimed in claim 8, characterized in that the catheter is provided with at least three ultrasound receivers.

11. An imaging system as claimed in claim 8, characterized in that the catheter is provided with further medical instruments, notably electrodes for the acquisition of electrophysiological data.