VIRTUAL MEASUREMENT TOOL FOR MINIMALLY INVASIVE SURGERY

• US 20100318099A1
• Filed: 06/16/2009
• Published: 12/16/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc. (Intuitive Surgical Holdings, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Intuitive Surgical Incorporated (Intuitive Surgical Holdings, LLC)
• Inventors: ITKOWITZ, BRANDON D., Stein, Hubert, Curet, Myriam J., Zhao, Tao, Mohr, Catherine J., Hasser, Christopher J., Dimaio, Simon, Zhao, Wenyi
• Granted Patent: US 9,155,592 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 606/130
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 17/00234 for minimally invasive surgery A61B17/0218, A61B17/0469, A61B17/12013, A61B17/1285, A61B17/29, A61B17/320016 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 17/282 Jaws
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 18/1482 having a long rigid shaft for accessing the inner body transcutaneously in minimal invasive surgery, e.g. laparoscopy
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/00477 Coupling A61B2017/0046 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/105 Modelling of the patient, e.g. for ligaments or bones
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/061 for measuring dimensions, e.g. length
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 34/25 User interfaces for surgical systems
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 34/30 Surgical robots
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1072 measuring distances on the body, e.g. measuring length, height or thickness A61B5/1076 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/4209 by using holders, e.g. positioning frames
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/483 involving the acquisition of a 3D volume of data

Abstract

Robotic and/or measurement devices, systems, and methods for telesurgical and other applications employ input devices operatively coupled to tools so as to allow a system user to manipulate tissues and other structures being measured. The system may make use of three dimensional position information from stereoscopic images. Two or more discrete points can be designated in three dimensions so as to provide a cumulative length along a straight or curving structure, an area measurement, a volume measurement, or the like. The discrete points may be identified by a single surgical tool or by distances separating two or more surgical tools, with the user optionally measuring a structure longer than a field of view of the stereoscopic image capture device by walking a pair of tools “hand-over-hand” along the structure. By allowing the system user to interact with the tissues while designating the tissue locations, and by employing imaging data to determine the measurements, the measurement accuracy and ease of measurement may be enhanced.

Claims

1. A method for measuring a structure, the method comprising:

grasping a first structure location with a first robotic tool jaws;

grasping a second structure location with a second robotic tool jaws;

releasing the jaws of the first tool and moving the first tool from the first location so as to grasp a third structure location;

summing three dimensional offsets between the locations so as to measure a hand-over-hand length along the structure.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the structure comprises a tissue structure within a minimally invasive surgical site, and further comprising designating a plurality of additional tissue structure locations by grasping the structure alternatingly with the first and second robotic tool jaws.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein each offset is defined by a pair of the locations, and further comprising displaying, superimposed on an image of the a graphical indicator of a measurement location along each jaw, a stretch line between the first and second jaws, an incremental offset measurement between the first and second jaws, and a cumulative measurement including the summed offsets of the pairs.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising designating the tissue locations by actuation of the jaws.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein releasing of the jaws of the first tool from the first location while the second tool grasps the second tissue location designates the second tissue location and initiates an incremental offset measurement between the first location and the second location so that the second tool may grasp and release a plurality of candidate second tissue locations without altering the summed offsets.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein releasing of the jaws of the second tool from the second location while the first tool grasps the third tissue location designates the third tissue location and initiates an incremental offset measurement between the second location and the third location so that the first tool may grasp and release a plurality of candidate third tissue locations without altering the summed offsets.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein while one of the tools remains grasped the other tool is allowed to grasp and release multiple times until a desired tissue location is achieved, wherein an offset between the additional locations is measured by release of the one tool when the desired tissue location is achieved, and wherein location designation responsibility between the one tool and the other tool switches when the one tool is released.

8. The method of claim 2, further comprising manipulating the tissue structure with the jaws so as to straighten or stretch a measured length of the tissue structure when an associated offset between the first and second jaws is determined.

9. The method of claim 2, further comprising viewing the tissue structure within a field of view of an image capture device, wherein the third location is not visible in the field of view while determining an offset between the first location and the second location, and further comprising manipulating the tissue structure with the jaws and/or moving the field of view so as to image the third location while determining an offset between the second location and the third location.

10. The method of claim 2, further comprising capturing left and right stereoscopic images of the tissue structure with an image capture device that generates image data, wherein the offsets are measured by determining three dimensional offsets between the locations using the image data.

11. A method for measuring tissue, the method comprising:

indicating a first tissue location with a first robotic tool;

robotically indicating a plurality of additional tissue locations; and

determining a measurement defined by the tissue locations.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the measurement comprises a cumulative length between pairs of the tissue locations.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the measurement comprises an area measurement.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the measurement comprises an aspect ratio defined by the locations.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising identifying a center of the area and summing areas of triangles defined between the center and the tissue locations so as to calculate the area.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising superimposing a border of the area on an image of the tissue while directing movement, by a system user, of the first tool with reference to the image.

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising acquiring the image with an image capture device that generates image data, and determining the tissue locations from the image data.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the tissue locations comprise discretely designated locations bordering the area with each location being designated per an associated input from a system user.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein the plurality of locations are designated in response to a temporal or spatial separation between the first robotic tool and a prior location,.

20. The method of claim 11, further comprising superimposing a graphical indicator within an image of the tissue at each of the locations, the graphical indicators persisting after the first tool has been displaced from locations designated by the first tool, superimposing lines between sequential locations within the image, superimposing a graphical indicator on a tool measurement location of the first robotic tool within the image, and superimposing a stretch line between an immediately prior location and the measurement location within the image.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising superimposing an incremental offset between the immediately prior location and the tool measurement location within the image, and superimposing a cumulative summation of offsets between the sequential locations within the image.

22. The method of claim 11, wherein robotically indicating the plurality of additional tissue locations is performed by using a second robotic tool to indicate at least a second tissue location and a third robotic tool to indicate at least a third tissue location.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the first robotic tool is operatively associated with a first master/slave three dimensional input device operated by a first user and the second robotic tool is operatively associated with a second master/slave three dimensional input device operated by a second user.

24. A system for measuring structures, the system comprising:

a first robotic tool jaws for grasping a first structure location;

a second robotic tool jaws for grasping a second structure location;

a processor coupling the robotic tools to an output such that an input command from the user induces the processor to sum three dimensional offsets between the locations so as to measure a hand-over-hand length along the structure.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the system comprises a robotic surgical system and the structure comprises a tissue structure within a minimally invasive surgical site, wherein the processor, in response to a plurality of alternating jaw actuation commands for the first and second robotic tool jaws, identifies an associated plurality of additional tissue structure locations along the length.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the processor sums a plurality of offsets defined by an associated plurality of pairs of the locations, and further comprising a display showing, in use, an image of the tissue structure and superimposed thereon a graphical indicator of a measurement location along each jaw, a stretch line between the first and second jaws, an incremental offset measurement between the first and second jaws, and a cumulative measurement including the summed offsets of the pairs.

27. The system of claim 25, wherein releasing of the jaws of the first tool from the first location designates the second tissue location and adds an incremental three dimensional offset measurement between the first location and the second location to the hand-over-hand length so that the second tool may grasp and release a plurality of candidate second tissue locations without altering the hand-over-hand length.

28. The system of claim 25, wherein the processor defers summing of three dimensional offsets until a location is indicated per a command from the system user so as to facilitate manipulating the tissue structure with the jaws during measurement of the hand-over-hand length and allow the jaws to straighten or stretch a measured incremental length of the tissue structure when an associated offset between the first and second jaws is determined.

29. The system of claim 24, further comprising an image capture device having a field of view, wherein the processor is configured for articulation of the jaws so as to manipulate the structure so as to bring the third location into the image before determining an offset between the second location and the third location.

30. The system of claim 24, further comprising an image capture device having a field of view, wherein the processor is configured for repositioning of the field of view so as to bring the third location into the image before determining an offset between the second location and the third location.

31. The system of claim 24, further comprising a stereoscopic image capture device for capturing left and right stereoscopic images of the structure and generating image data in response thereto, wherein the processor measures the offsets by determining three dimensional offsets between the locations using the image data.

32. The system of claim 24, wherein the processor is configured so that while one of the tools remains grasped the other tool is allowed to grasp and release multiple times until a desired tissue location is achieved, wherein an offset between the additional locations is measured by release of the one tool when the desired tissue location is achieved, and wherein location designation responsibility between the one tool and the other tool switches when the one tool is released.

33. A system for measuring a structure, the system comprising:

a first robotic tool for engaging a first location;

a processor coupled to the first tool so that the processor determines a measurement defined by the first location and a plurality of additional robotically engaged locations.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein the measurement comprises an area measurement.

35. The system of claim 33, wherein the measurement comprises an aspect ratio defined by the locations.

36. The system of claim 33, wherein the processor is configured to identify a center of the area and sum areas of triangles defined between the center and the tissue locations so as to calculate the area.

37. The system of claim 34, wherein the processor is configured to superimpose a border of the area on an image of the structure while directing movement, by a system user, of the first tool with reference to the image.

38. The system of claim 33, further comprising an image capture device for acquiring the image and generating image data in response thereto, the processor determining the locations from the image data.

39. The system of claim 33, wherein the tissue locations comprise discretely designated locations bordering the area, the processor determining each location per an associated input from a system user.

40. The system of claim 33, wherein the processor is configured to determine the plurality of locations in response to a temporal or spatial separation between the first robotic tool and a prior location.

41. The system of claim 33, wherein the processor is configured to superimpose a graphical indicator within an image of the tissue at each of the locations, the graphical indicators persisting after the first tool has been displaced from locations designated by the first tool, to superimpose lines between sequential locations within the image, to superimpose a graphical indicator on a tool measurement location of the first robotic tool within the image, and to superimpose a stretch line between an immediately prior location and the measurement location within the image.

42. The system of claim 33, wherein the processor is configured to superimpose an incremental offset between the immediately prior location and the tool measurement location within the image, and to superimpose a cumulative summation of offsets between the sequential locations within the image.

43. The system of claim 33, further comprising a second robotic tool and a third robotic tool, wherein the robotic tools are coupled to the processor so as to robotically indicate the plurality of additional tissue locations using the second robotic tool to indicate at least a second tissue location and the third robotic tool to indicate at least a third tissue location.

44. The system of claim 43, further comprising a first master/slave three dimensional input device positioned for use by a first user and operatively associated with the first robotic tool, and a second master/slave three dimensional input device positioned for use by a second user and operatively associated with the second robotic tool.