Method and apparatus for time gating of medical images

• US 20050080336A1
• Filed: 12/03/2004
• Published: 04/14/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 07/22/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: St. Jude Medical, Atrial Fibrillation Division, Inc. (Abbott Laboratories)
• Original Assignee: Ep Medsystems Incorporated (Abbott Laboratories)
• Inventors: Dala-Krishna, Praveen, Byrd, Charles Bryan
• Granted Patent: US 7,314,446 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/428
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/065 to determine blood output from the heart in general A61B5/029
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/0883 for diagnosis of the heart
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/543 involving acquisition triggered by a physiological signal

Abstract

A medical imaging system is provided which includes a signal generator configured to obtain a trigger signal corresponding to a timing of interest, imaging equipment configured to obtain a plurality of images of a feature of interest, and a processor programmed to correlate the plurality of images with the trigger signal. Also provided is a method of correlating a plurality of medical images by obtaining a trigger signal of a timing of interest, obtaining a plurality of images of a feature of interest, and correlating the plurality of images with the trigger signal.

Claims

1. A medical imaging system comprising:

a signal generator adapted and configured to obtain a trigger signal corresponding to a timing of interest;

imaging equipment adapted and configured to obtain a plurality of images of a feature of interest; and

a processor programmed to correlate the plurality of images with the trigger signal.

2. The medical imaging system of claim 1, wherein the signal generator comprises at least one sensor adapted and configured to sense a physiological condition of a patient, the trigger signal corresponding to a physiological condition sensed by the at least one sensor.

3. The medical imaging system of claim 2, wherein the at least one sensor comprises an intra-cardiac electrocardiograph (ECG) sensor for generating a physiological trigger signal.

4. The medical imaging system of claim 3, wherein the imaging equipment comprises an intra-body ultrasound catheter.

5. The medical imaging system of claim 4, wherein the intra-body ultrasound catheter comprises a linear phased array transducer.

6. The medical imaging system of claim 5, wherein the array is rotatable so as to obtain a series of 2-dimensional images having differing fields of view.

7. The medical imaging system of claim 4, wherein at least one ECG sensor is positioned on the intra-body ultrasound catheter.

8. The medical imaging system of claim 4, wherein the processor is further programmed to control the intra-body ultrasound catheter so as to acquire an ultrasound image when triggered by the trigger signal.

9. The medical imaging system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further programmed to store the plurality of images of the feature of interest.

10. The medical imaging system of claim 9, wherein the processor is programmed to correlate stored images with the trigger signal.

11. The medical imaging system of claim 9, wherein the processor is further programmed to process correlated stored images.

12. The medical imaging system of claim 1, wherein the feature of interest is an intra-cardial chamber.

13. The medical imaging system of claim 1, further comprising a localizer for determining an intra-body location of the imaging equipment.

14. The medical imaging system of claim 3, wherein the processor is programmed to shift in time by a time increment from a physiological signals.

15. The medical imaging system of claim 14, wherein the processor is programmed to provide a 4-dimensional (4D) image spanning an entire heart beat cycle.

16. The medical imaging system of claim 3, wherein the physiological trigger signal is a periodic atrial fibrillation feature.

17. The medical imaging system of claim 3, wherein a time period starting point of the trigger signal is selected from an ECG trace by a user.

18. A method of correlating a plurality of medical images, comprising:

obtaining a trigger signal of a timing of interest;

obtaining a plurality of images of a feature of interest; and

correlating the plurality of images with the trigger signal.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising image processing obtained images of substantially the same location.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising localizing the plurality of images.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising generating a 3-dimensional (3D) representation of the feature of interest from the plurality of images.

22. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

identifying the feature of interest; and

tracking the feature of interest in the plurality of images.

23. The method of claim 18, wherein obtaining a trigger signal comprises sensing a physiological event of a patient.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein obtaining a trigger signal is performed by at least one electrocardiogram (ECG) sensor.

25. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

superimposing a 3-dimensional wire frame of a heart upon the plurality of images.

26. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

integrating ultrasound and fluoroscopic image data into an electronic record.

27. A program product for causing a medical imaging system to perform steps of:

obtaining a trigger signal of a timing of interest;

obtaining a plurality of images of a feature of interest; and

time gating the plurality of images with the trigger signal.