AUXILIARY CAVITY LOCALIZATION

• US 20100048998A1
• Filed: 07/22/2009
• Published: 02/25/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/01/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.
• Original Assignee: Hansen Medical Incorporated (Johnson & Johnson)
• Inventors: Tanner, Neal A., Ramamurthy, Bhaskar S., Younge, Robert G., Schlesinger, Randall L.
• Granted Patent: US 8,290,571 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/117
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/00243 cardiac
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/2046 Tracking techniques
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/2051 Electromagnetic tracking systems
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/2072 Reference field transducer attached to an instrument or patient
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/0812 indicating loosening or shifting of parts of an instrument, signaling maladjustment of parts
• 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 5/06 Devices, other than using radiation, for detecting or locating foreign bodies for removing same A61B17/50 ; determining position of probes within or on the body of the patient
• 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 method and system for maintaining calibration of a distributed localization system are presented. After a baseline calibration of sensors distributed on a working instrument and reference instrument, if movement of the reference instrument is detected, shape sensing data from a Bragg shape sensing fiber also coupled to the reference instrument may be utilized to recalibrate the localization system. The reference instrument preferably is located intraoperatively in a relatively constrained anatomical environment, such as in the coronary sinus of the heart, to prevent significant movement.

Claims

1. A localized medical instrument system, comprising:

a. an elongate medical instrument having a distal tip;

b. a reference medical instrument having a distal tip and a distal portion proximal to the distal tip;

c. a localization system comprising a localization controller and one or more discrete localization sensors, the localization controller configured to output spatial positional information regarding the one or more localization sensors;

d. a fiber Bragg shape sensing system comprising a Bragg controller and one or more shape sensing Bragg fibers having one or more Bragg gratings distributed thereon, the Bragg controller configured to output shape data; and

e. a system controller operatively coupled to the localization controller and Bragg controller;

wherein one or more localization sensors are coupled to the elongate medical instrument and operatively coupled to the localization controller;

wherein one or more localization sensors are coupled to different known longitudinal positions along the distal portion of the reference medical instrument and operatively coupled to the localization controller;

wherein the one or more shape sensing Bragg fibers are coupled to the reference medical instrument and operatively coupled to the Bragg controller; and

wherein subsequent to an initial calibration of the localization system using localization sensor spatial positions on the elongate medical instrument relative to those on reference medical instrument, and of the localization sensor spatial positions on the reference medical instrument relative to the Bragg controller shape data, the system controller is configured to operate the localization controller to determine the position of the elongate medical instrument utilizing the one or more localization sensors coupled to the elongate medical instrument and the reference medical instrument, and to automatically recalibrate the localization system based upon changes in position or shape of the reference medical instrument detected by the localization and shape sensing systems.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the elongate medical instrument is a catheter.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the reference medical instrument is a slender probe configured to be placed into an anatomic pathway.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the slender probe is configured to be placed into the coronary sinus of the heart.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the localization system is a potential difference based localization system.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the localization sensors on the reference medical instrument are reference sensors utilized to facilitate determining positional information of localization sensors coupled to the elongate medical instrument.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein at least one of the one or more localization sensors coupled to the elongate medical instrument are physically integrated into the elongate medical instrument.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein at least one of the one or more localization sensors coupled to the reference medical instrument are physically integrated into the reference medical instrument.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the localization system is an electromagnetic based localization system.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the fiber Bragg shape sensing system comprises one or more Bragg fibers having continuous or substantially continuous gratings along portions thereof.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the fiber Bragg shape sensing system comprises one or more Bragg fibers having discrete gratings along portions thereof.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the fiber Bragg shape sensing system comprises an integrated multi-core fiber bundle.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the fiber Bragg shape sensing system comprises one or more single-core fibers.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more shape sensing Bragg fibers are physically integrated into the reference medical instrument.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein three or more localization sensors are positioned at different known longitudinal positions with a substantially equal spacing between adjacent sensors.

16. A method for maintaining calibration of a medical device localization system, comprising:

a. establishing a baseline calibration between the positions of one or more localization sensors coupled to an elongate medical instrument and one or more localization sensors coupled to a nearby reference medical instrument at known longitudinal positions along the instrument; and

b. detecting repositioning of the reference medical instrument utilizing a fiber Bragg shape sensing system comprising one or more shape sensing Bragg fibers coupled to the reference medical instrument.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising notifying an operator of the elongate medical instrument that a recalibration is required.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising stopping any automated motion associated with the elongate medical instrument.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein detecting repositioning comprises saving in a buffer a predetermined amount of data pertinent to the positioning of the reference medical instrument and comparing such buffer data to newly determined positioning data.

20. The method of claim 16, further comprising automatically recalibrating the positions of the one or more localization sensors coupled to an elongate medical instrument and the one or more localization sensors coupled to a nearby reference medical instrument based upon changes in position or shape of the reference medical instrument detected by the localization and shape sensing systems.

21. The method of claim 16, further comprising positioning the elongate medical instrument adjacent targeted tissue structures, and positioning the reference medical instrument nearby in a substantially more constrained position relative to nearby anatomy, to prevent substantial motion of the reference medical instrument.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the elongate medical instrument is placed within one of the chambers of the heart.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the reference medical instrument is placed within the coronary sinus of the heart.

24. The method of claim 21, further comprising retracting and repeating positioning the reference medical instrument nearby in the substantially more constrained position relative to nearby anatomy, to gather additional data regarding the shape of the anatomy.