MEDICAL DEVICE

• US 20090292171A1
• Filed: 05/20/2009
• Published: 11/26/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/23/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Olympus Corporation
• Original Assignee: Olympus Medical Systems Corporation (Olympus Corporation)
• Inventors: ONISHI, Junichi, IKUMA, Soichi, ITO, Seiichi, SUZUKI, Akira, AKIMOTO, Shunya
• Granted Patent: US 8,202,213 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/111
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/00009 of image signals during a use of endoscope
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/00133 Drive units for endoscopic tools inserted through or with the endoscope
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/267 for the respiratory tract, e.g. laryngoscopes, bronchoscopes
• 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 5/064 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

Abstract

A medical device for examination or treatment based on a reference point, includes: a virtual endoscopic image generation section configured to generate a virtual endoscopic image of a bronchus from a plurality of different line-of-sight positions using three-dimensional image data of the bronchus of a subject that is obtained in advance; an image retrieval section configured to retrieve a virtual endoscopic image highly similar to an endoscopic image of the bronchus picked up by an image pickup section arranged at a distal end portion of an insertion section; a reference-point setting section configured to set a reference point based on a line-of-sight position of the highly similar virtual endoscopic image; and a relative-position calculation section configured to calculate a relative position of a treatment instrument to the reference point.

Claims

1. A medical device, comprising:

an image pickup section that is able to pick up an image of a tube cavity in a subject;

a medical instrument for examination or treatment in the tube cavity based on a reference point;

a virtual endoscopic image generation section configured to generate a virtual endoscopic image in the tube cavity from a plurality of different line-of-sight positions using three-dimensional image data of the subject that is obtained in advance;

an image retrieval section configured to retrieve the virtual endoscopic image highly similar to the endoscopic image of the tube cavity picked up by the image pickup section;

a reference-point setting section configured to set a predetermined position near the image pickup section as the reference point based on the line-of-sight position of the highly similar virtual endoscopic image; and

a relative-position calculation section for calculating a relative position of the medical instrument to the reference point.

2. The medical device according to claim 1, wherein

the virtual endoscopic image generating section generates a more highly similar virtual endoscopic image based on the information from the image retrieval section, and

the reference-point setting section sets the reference point based on the line-of-sight position of the more highly similar virtual endoscopic image.

3. The medical device according to claim 1, wherein

the image retrieval section retrieves the most highly similar virtual endoscopic image among the plurality of the virtual endoscopic images generated by the virtual endoscopic image generation section in advance,

the virtual endoscopic image generation section generates a more highly similar virtual endoscopic image based on the information of the most highly similar virtual endoscopic image retrieved by the image retrieval section, and

the reference-point setting section sets the reference point based on the line-of-sight position of the more highly similar virtual endoscopic image.

4. The medical device according to claim 1, further comprising:

an image-position calculation section configured to detect the position of the medical instrument from the endoscopic image picked up by the image pickup section, and wherein

the relative-position calculation section calculates the relative position based on the position of the medical instrument detected by the image-position calculation section and the reference point.

5. The medical device according to claim 1, further comprising:

an insertion section that is insertable through the tube cavity, has a channel formed therein through which the medical instrument is insertable, and has an opening of the channel and the image pickup section at a distal end portion thereof, and wherein

the reference point is positioned at the opening.

6. The medical device according to claim 1, wherein

the medical instrument is a treatment instrument or a probe.

7. The medical device according to claim 6, further comprising:

an advancement/retraction amount detection section configured to detect an amount of advancement/retraction of the treatment instrument or the probe in the channel, and wherein

the relative-position calculation section calculates the relative position based on the amount of advancement/retraction detected by the advancement/retraction amount detection section and the reference point.

8. The medical device according to claim 1, further comprising:

a first position detection sensor arranged at the medical instrument;

a sensor-position detection section configured to detect the position of the first position detection sensor, and wherein

the relative-position calculation section calculates the relative position based on the position of the medical instrument detected by the sensor-position detection section and the reference point.

9. The medical device according to claim 1, wherein

the tube cavity is bronchus.

10. The medical device according to claim 6, further comprising:

a first position detection sensor arranged at the treatment instrument or the probe;

a second position detection sensor arranged at the insertion section; and

a transformation-parameter calculation section configured to calculate a transformation parameter that transforms reference positions and reference directions of the first position detection sensor and the second position detection sensor to each other.

11. The medical device according to claim 6, further comprising:

a first position detection sensor arranged at the treatment instrument or the probe;

a second position detection sensor arranged at the insertion section; and

a calibration section configured to detect the positions of the first and the second position detection sensors when a distal end of the treatment instrument or the probe is protruded from the opening, and transform the positional information detected by the first position detection sensor based on the positional information detected by the second position detection sensor.

12. The medical device according to claim 6, wherein

the probe is an ultrasound probe, and

the protrusion of the ultrasound probe from the opening is detected by the change in the output in an ultrasound image by the ultrasound probe.