Systems And Methods For Registration Of A Medical Device Using A Reduced Search Space

• US 20130303890A1
• Filed: 05/13/2013
• Published: 11/14/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/14/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc. (Intuitive Surgical Holdings, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc. (Intuitive Surgical Holdings, LLC)
• Inventors: Duindam, Vincent, Chopra, Prashant
• Granted Patent: US 10,299,698 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/424
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/00809 Lung operations
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/108 Computer aided selection or customisation of medical implants or cutting guides
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/2051 Electromagnetic tracking systems
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/2061 using shape-sensors, e.g. fiber shape sensors with Bragg gratings
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/301 for introducing or steering flexible instruments inserted into the body, e.g. catheters or endoscopes
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/365 augmented reality, i.e. correlating a live optical image with another image
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 34/10 Computer-aided planning, simulation or modelling of surgical operations
• 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 34/30 Surgical robots
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/00 Measuring for diagnostic purposes radiation diagnosis A61B6/00; diagnosis by ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic waves A61B8/00; Identification of persons
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/061 Determining position of a probe within the body employing means separate from the probe, e.g. sensing internal probe position employing impedance electrodes on the surface of the body A61B1/00158 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
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/066 Superposing sensor position on an image of the patient, e.g. obtained by ultrasound or x-ray imaging
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0012 Biomedical image inspection

Abstract

A method comprises identifying connected anatomical structures in stored images of a patient anatomy and generating a plurality of cylindrical linkage elements representing the connected anatomical structures. The method also comprises receiving tracking data corresponding to a point on an instrument positioned within at least one of the connected anatomical structures; and matching the point on the instrument to one of the plurality of cylindrical linkage elements.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

identifying connected anatomical structures in stored images of a patient anatomy;

generating a plurality of linkage elements representing the connected anatomical structures;

receiving tracking data corresponding to a point on an instrument positioned within at least one of the connected anatomical structures; and

matching the point on the instrument to one of the plurality of linkage elements.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving preoperative medical images into a computer memory device to create the stored images of the patient anatomy.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the connected anatomical structures include airways of a lung.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of matching the point on the instrument to one of the plurality of linkage elements includes determining a set of the plurality of linkage elements closest to position coordinates of the point on the instrument.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising determining, for each linkage element in the set, a distance between the point on the instrument and an anatomical centerline of the linkage element.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising identifying a closest linkage element in the set.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising creating a projection of the point on the instrument to an anatomical centerline of the closest linkage element.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising identifying a snapping point along the projection at a radial distance from the anatomical centerline.

9. The method of claim 7 further comprising determining whether the point on the instrument is closest to one of two basepoints of the anatomical centerline through the closest linkage element or is closest to a midpoint between the two basepoints.

10. A medical system comprising:

a flexible instrument including a sensor adapted to provide tracking data for a point on the instrument;

a memory storing images of a patient anatomy; and

a processor configured for

identifying connected anatomical structures in the stored images of the patient anatomy;

generating a plurality of linkage elements representing the connected anatomical structures;

receiving the tracking data corresponding to the point on an instrument positioned within at least one of the connected anatomical structures; and

matching the point on the instrument to one of the plurality of linkage elements.

11. The medical system of claim 10 wherein the stored images of the patient anatomy include preoperatively recorded medical images.

12. The medical system of claim 10 wherein the connected anatomical structures include airways of a lung.

13. The medical system of claim 10 wherein the processor is further configured to match the point on the instrument to one of the plurality of linkage elements by determining a set of the plurality of linkage elements closest to position coordinates of the point on the instrument.

14. The medical system of claim 13 wherein the processor is further configured to determine, for each linkage element in the set, a distance between the point on the instrument and an anatomical centerline of the linkage element.

15. The medical system of claim 14 wherein the processor is further configured to identify a closest linkage element in the set.

16. The medical system of claim 15 wherein the processor is further configured to create a projection of the point on the instrument to an anatomical centerline of the closest linkage element.

17. The medical system of claim 16 wherein the processor is further configured to identify a snapping point along the projection at a radial distance from the anatomical centerline.

18. The medical system of claim 16 wherein the processor is further configured to determine whether the point on the instrument is closest to one of two base points of the anatomical centerline through the closest linkage element or is closest to a midpoint between the two base points.

19. The medical system of claim 10 wherein the processor is further configured to generate a composite image including an image of the connected anatomical structures and an image of the point on the instrument within the patient anatomy

20. A method comprising:

generating an image of a set of connected passageways of a patient anatomy;

receiving position information for a point on an instrument indicating a position of the point relative to the connected passageways;

generating adjusted position information for the point including modeling the set of connected passageways of a patient anatomy as a structure of linked bounded-surface elements;

creating an adjusted instrument image with the adjusted position information; and

generating a composite image including the image of the set of connected passageways and the adjusted instrument image.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the step of generating an image of a set of connected passageways includes receiving preoperative medical images into a computer memory device.

22. The method of claim 20 wherein the step of receiving position information for the point on the instrument includes receiving position information locating the point on the instrument outside of one of the connected passageways of the patient anatomy.

23. The method of claim 20 wherein the step of receiving position information for the point on the instrument includes receiving position information locating the point on the instrument in one of the connected passageways.

24. The method of claim 20 wherein the step of generating corrected position information for the point further includes identifying a closest linked bounded-surface element in the structure of linked bounded-surface elements.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein the step of generating corrected position information for the point further includes changing the position information for the point to a location on a wall of the closest linked bounded-surface element.