Method And Apparatus For Instrument Placement

• US 20100240986A1
• Filed: 04/28/2009
• Published: 09/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/20/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Medtronic Incorporated (Medtronic Plc)
• Original Assignee: Medtronic Incorporated (Medtronic Plc)
• Inventors: Stiles, David
• Granted Patent: US 8,335,552 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/424
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/2051 Electromagnetic tracking systems
• 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 5/062 using magnetic field
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/415 the glands, e.g. tonsils, adenoids or thymus
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/418 lymph vessels, ducts or nodes
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7289 Retrospective gating, i.e. associating measured signals or images with a physiological event after the actual measurement or image acquisition, e.g. by simultaneously recording an additional physiological signal during the measurement or image acquisition
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/12 Arrangements for detecting or locating foreign bodies

Abstract

When delivering a therapy to a patient, such as a drug to a brain of a patient, an optimized delivery point can be selected. The optimized point can be based on physics, physiology, and pharmacology. The optimized point can be used for planning and a surgical navigation procedure.

Claims

1. A method of determining a selected location within a volume, comprising:

selecting a physical region within the volume for therapy delivery;

determining a volume of efficacy for a therapy;

acquiring image data of the volume;

determining an image region of therapy relating to the physical region;

determining an optimized delivery point within the volume to achieve the volume of efficacy at least within a portion of the selected physical region; and

outputting the optimized delivery point.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying the outputted optimized delivery point superimposed on the image data; and

navigating an instrument to the outputted optimized delivery point.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining an image region of therapy relating to the physical region includes segmenting the physical region into at least a selected segmented region and an unselected segmented region.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein determining an optimized delivery point within the volume includes determining the optimized point to achieve the volume of efficacy substantially only in the selected segmented region.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining an optimized delivery point includes:

identifying a plurality of points within the image region of therapy;

measuring a plurality of radii from each of the identified plurality of points to at least one of a surface of the image region of therapy or structures outside of the image region of therapy;

determining which of the identified plurality of points includes a maximum average radius.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein determining which of the identified plurality of points includes a maximum average radius includes weighting each of the plurality of radii from each of the identified plurality of points prior to averaging the plurality of radii from each of the identified plurality of points.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining an optimized delivery point includes:

identifying a plurality of points within the image region of therapy that are each a center of a sphere that is completely within the image region of therapy;

measuring a radius of each of a plurality of spheres based on the identified plurality of points; and

determining which of the plurality of spheres has a maximum radius.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein determining which of the plurality of spheres has the maximum radius includes weighting each of the plurality of spheres.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein determining an optimized delivery point includes:

identifying a plurality of points within the image region of therapy that are each a center of a sphere that completely encompass the image region of therapy;

measuring a radius of each of a plurality of spheres based on the identified plurality of points; and

determining which of the plurality of spheres has a minimum radius.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein determining which of the plurality of spheres has a minimum radius includes weighting each of the plurality of spheres.

11. A method of determining a selected location within a brain, comprising:

selecting a physical region within the brain for therapy delivery;

selecting an instrument for the therapy delivery;

determining a volume of efficacy for a therapy;

acquiring image data of the volume;

identifying an image region of therapy that is an image representation of the selected physical region;

determining an optimized delivery point within the image region of therapy to achieve the volume of efficacy at least within a portion of the selected physical region; and

superimposing the determined optimized delivery point on the acquired image data.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein identifying an image region of therapy that is an image representation of the selected physical region includes segmenting the image data by at least selecting a seed point within the image region of therapy.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein determining the optimized delivery point is substantially automatically determined by a processor after a user selects the physical region.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein identifying an image region of therapy is substantially automatically performed by a processor executing instructions to segment the acquired image data.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the substantially automatically determined optimized delivery point by a processor includes:

identifying a plurality of points within the image region of therapy;

measuring a plurality of radii from each of the identified plurality of points to at least one of a surface of the image region of therapy or structures outside of the image region of therapy;

determining which of the identified plurality of points includes a maximum average radius.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein determining which of the identified plurality of points includes a maximum average radius includes weighting each of the plurality of radii from each of the identified plurality of points prior to averaging the plurality of radii from each of the identified plurality of points.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the substantially automatically determined optimized delivery point by a processor includes:

identifying a plurality of points within the image region of therapy that are each a center of a sphere that is completely within the image region of therapy;

measuring a radius of each of a plurality of spheres based on the identified plurality of points; and

determining which of the plurality of spheres has a maximum radius.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein determining which of the plurality of spheres has the maximum radius includes weighting each of the plurality of spheres.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the substantially automatically determined optimized delivery point by a processor includes:

identifying a plurality of points within the image region of therapy that are each a center of a sphere that completely encompass the image region of therapy;

measuring a radius of each of a plurality of spheres based on the identified plurality of points; and

determining which of the plurality of spheres has a minimum radius.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein determining which of the plurality of spheres has a minimum radius includes weighting each of the plurality of spheres.

21. The method of claim 11, wherein acquiring image data of the volume includes acquiring magnetic resonance image data, acquiring three dimensional ultrasound image data, acquiring computed tomography image data, or combinations thereof.

22. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

segmenting the selected physical region into a segmented selecting region and a segmented unselected region;

wherein determining an optimized delivery point includes determining an optimized delivery point only to the segmented selected region.

23. A system to determine a selected location within a volume, comprising:

a storage system operable to store acquired image data of the volume;

an input device operable to input a selected physical region within the volume for therapy delivery;

an instrument operable to deliver the therapy;

a processor operable to execute instructions to identify an image region of therapy that is a representation of the selected physical region, wherein the processor is further operable to execute instructions to determine an optimized delivery point within the image region of therapy to achieve a volume of efficacy at least within a portion of the selected physical region; and

an output device operable to output the determined optimized delivery point on the acquired image data.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the output device includes a display device;

wherein the display device is operable to display the acquired image data and an icon superimposed on the acquired image data as the determined optimized delivery point.

25. The system of claim 23, further comprising:

an imaging system operable to acquire three dimensional image data of the volume.

26. The system of claim 23, further comprising:

a navigation system having a localizer and a trackable portions;

wherein the navigation system is operable to track the trackable portion and superimpose an icon representing a position of the trackable portion relative to the image data.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the tracking portion includes the instrument;

wherein the icon is operable to represent a delivery portion of the instrument.