System and method for automatically registering three dimensional cardiac images with electro-anatomical cardiac mapping data

• US 20060159323A1
• Filed: 01/12/2006
• Published: 07/20/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 01/18/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Siemens Healthcare GMBH (Siemens AG)
• Original Assignee: Siemens Medical Solutions USA Incorporated (Siemens AG)
• Inventors: Azar, Fred S., Sun, Yiyong, Rahn, Norbert, Xu, Chenyang, Sauer, Frank
• Granted Patent: US 7,715,604 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/128
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0035 adapted for acquisition of images from more than one imaging mode, e.g. combining MRI and optical tomography
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/055 involving electronic [EMR] or nuclear [NMR] magnetic resonance, e.g. magnetic resonance imaging
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/283 Invasive
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/03 Computed tomography [CT] echo-tomography A61B8/14
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30048 Heart; Cardiac
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/33 using feature-based methods

Abstract

A system and method for automatically registering a three dimensional (3D) pre-operative image of an anatomical structure with intra-operative electrophysiological (EP) points of a 3D electro-anatomical (EA) image map of the anatomical structure is disclosed. The pre-operative image is displayed in a first supporting view. The intra-operative EA image map is displayed in a second supporting view. An alignment of the pre-operative image with the intra-operative map is performed by identifying at least one corresponding point on each image. The view of the pre-operative image is integrated with the EA map based on the alignment.

Claims

1. A method for automatically registering a three dimensional (3D) pre-operative image of an anatomical structure with intra-operative electrophysiological (EP) points of a 3D electro-anatomical (EA) image map of the anatomical structure, the method comprising the steps of:

displaying the pre-operative image in a first supporting view;

displaying the intra-operative EA image map in a second supporting view;

performing an alignment of the pre-operative image with the intra-operative map by identifying at least one corresponding point on each image; and

integrating the view of the pre-operative image with the EA map based on the alignment.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the pre-operative image is a computed tomography image.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the pre-operative image is a magnetic resonance image.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the anatomical structure is a chamber of a heart.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the anatomical structure is a left atrium.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein step of performing an alignment further comprises the steps of:

specifying a landmark point on the pre-operative image that corresponds to an EP point;

solving a translation vector based on displacement between the landmark point and the EP point.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the step of specifying a landmark point further comprises the step of rotating the orientation of the anatomical structure in the pre-operative image to the same orientation as the EA map.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of performing an alignment further comprises the steps of:

specifying at least three landmark points on the pre-operative image that correspond to at least three EP points; and

performing a rigid transformation to minimize distances between the EP points and the corresponding landmark points.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the at least three landmark points are not collinear.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of performing an alignment comprises the steps of:

using an iterative process to identify a nearest corresponding point of each EP point to a landmark point on the pre-operative image;

computing a transformation that minimizes a mean square error of the correspondence; and

continuing the iterations until an average point-to-point distance error is smaller than a predetermined threshold.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of performing an alignment further comprises the steps of:

assigning one or more specific EP points a higher weight;

specifying landmark points on the pre-operative image that correspond to the one or more specific EP points; and

performing a transformation to minimize distances between the specified EP points and the corresponding landmark points.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein a catheter is placed in the anatomical structure and its movement in the structure is tracked.

13. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of performing an ablation on the anatomical structure.

14. A system for automatically registering a three dimensional (3D) pre-operative image of an anatomical structure with intra-operative electrophysiological (EP) points of a 3D electro-anatomical (EA) image map of the anatomical structure, the method comprising the steps of:

a display for displaying the pre-operative images in a first supporting view and the intra-operative EA image maps in a second supporting view;

a processor for maintaining the pre-operative images and intra-operative EA maps of the anatomical structure, the processor performing the following steps,

performing an alignment of the pre-operative image with the intra-operative map by identifying at least one corresponding point on each image; and

integrating the view of the pre-operative image with the EA map based on the alignment.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the pre-operative image is a computed tomography image.

16. The system of claim 14 wherein the pre-operative image is a magnetic resonance image.

17. The system of claim 14 wherein the anatomical structure is a chamber of a heart.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the anatomical structure is a left atrium.

19. The system of claim 14 wherein step of performing an alignment further comprises the steps of:

specifying a landmark point on the pre-operative image that corresponds to an EP point;

solving a translation vector based on displacement between the landmark point and the EP point.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein the step of specifying a landmark point further comprises the step of rotating the orientation of the anatomical structure in the pre-operative image to the same orientation as the EA map.

21. The system of claim 14 wherein the step of performing an alignment further comprises the steps of:

specifying at least three landmark points on the pre-operative image that correspond to at least three EP points; and

performing a rigid transformation to minimize distances between the EP points and the corresponding landmark points.

22. The system of claim 21 wherein the at least three landmark points are not collinear.

23. The system of claim 14 wherein the step of performing an alignment comprises the steps of:

using an iterative process to identify a nearest corresponding point of each EP point to a landmark point on the pre-operative image;

computing a transformation that minimizes a mean square error of the correspondence; and

continuing the iterations until an average point-to-point distance error is smaller than a predetermined threshold.

24. The system of claim 14 wherein the step of performing an alignment further comprises the steps of:

assigning one or more specific EP points a higher weight;

specifying landmark points on the pre-operative image that correspond to the one or more specific EP points; and

performing a transformation to minimize distances between the specified EP points and the corresponding landmark points.

25. The system of claim 14 wherein a catheter is placed in the anatomical structure and its movement in the structure is tracked.

26. The system of claim 14 further comprising the step of performing an ablation on the anatomical structure.