Registration for multi-modality medical imaging fusion with narrow field of view

• US 20160331351A1
• Filed: 05/15/2015
• Published: 11/17/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/15/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Siemens Medical Solutions USA Incorporated (Siemens AG)
• Original Assignee: Siemens Medical Solutions USA Incorporated (Siemens AG)
• Inventors: Guracar, Ismayil M.
• Granted Patent: US 10,675,006 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/055 involving electronic [EMR] or nuclear [NMR] magnetic resonance, e.g. magnetic resonance imaging
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/032 Transmission computed tomography [CT]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/4254 using sensors mounted on the probe
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/4416 related to combined acquisition of different diagnostic modalities, e.g. combination of ultrasound and X-ray acquisitions
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/463 characterised by displaying multiple images or images and diagnostic data on one display composite display in devices for short-range imaging with acoustic waves G01S7/52074
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/466 adapted to display 3D data 3D imaging and stereoscopic displays in devices for short-range imaging with acoustic waves G01S15/8993 and G01S7/52068, respectively; 3D image rendering G06T15/00; manipulating 3D models for computer graphics G06T19/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/5246 combining images from the same or different imaging techniques, e.g. color Doppler and B-mode
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/5261 combining images from different diagnostic modalities, e.g. ultrasound and X-ray
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10132 Ultrasound image
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/20221 Image fusion; Image merging
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/30 Determination of transform parameters for the alignment of images, i.e. image registration

Abstract

In multi-modality imaging fusion with ultrasound, one transducer is used for registering ultrasound scan data with scan data from another mode. This registration is used to then align scan data from a different ultrasound transducer with the scan data of the other mode. The alignment may account for differences in position sensing between the two transducers.

Claims

1. A method for multi-modality medical imaging fusion, the method comprising:

acquiring scan data representing a region of the patient, the scan data being of a modality other than ultrasound;

scanning at least a first part of the region of the patient with a first ultrasound transducer, the scanning providing first ultrasound data;

detecting, with a sensor, a first position of the first ultrasound transducer during the scanning with the first ultrasound transducer;

spatially registering the first ultrasound data with the scan data, the spatially registering providing a spatial transform;

scanning at least a second part of the region of the patient with a second ultrasound transducer, the scanning providing second ultrasound data;

detecting, with the sensor or another sensor, a second position of the second ultrasound transducer during the scanning with the second ultrasound transducer;

spatially aligning the second ultrasound data with the scan data as a function of the spatial transform and the first and second positions; and

generating a multi-modality fusion image from the scan data and the second ultrasound data, the multi-modality fusion image being a function of the spatially aligning.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein acquiring comprises acquiring the scan data as magnetic resonance or computed tomography data.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein scanning with the first ultrasound transducer comprises scanning with a first field of view, and wherein scanning with the second ultrasound transducer comprises scanning with a second field of view with an area or volume less than the first field of view by a factor of at least two.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein scanning with the first ultrasound transducer comprises scanning at a first transmit frequency, and wherein scanning with the second ultrasound transducer comprises scanning at a second transmit frequency greater than the first transmit frequency by a factor of at least 1.5.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein detecting the first and second positions comprises detecting with the sensor comprising a magnetic position sensor.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein detecting the first and second positions comprises detecting with the sensor releasably clipped to the first and second ultrasound transducers in sequence.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein spatially registering comprises generating the spatial transform as a function of landmark features represented in both the scan data and the first ultrasound data.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein spatially aligning comprises spatially aligning as a function of the spatial transform, the first and second positions, and first and second origins of the first and second ultrasound data, respectively.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein scanning with the second ultrasound transducer, detecting the second position, and spatially aligning are performed after the scanning with the first ultrasound transducer, detecting the first position, and spatially registering.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein generating the multi-modality fusion image comprises generating with information from the second ultrasound data as an overlay on information from the scan data.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein generating the multi-modality fusion image comprises displaying information from the second ultrasound data adjacent to information from the scan data at a same time.

12. In a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored therein data representing instructions executable by a programmed processor for multi-modality medical imaging fusion, the storage medium comprising instructions for:

registering multi-modality imaging information acquired with a first ultrasound transducer using multi-modality coordinate transformation acquired with a second ultrasound transducer; and

generating a multi-modality image with the information acquired with the first ultrasound transducer and with the registering of the multi-modality imaging information.

13. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 12 wherein registering comprises determining the multi-modality coordinate transformation of an ultrasound scan with the second ultrasound transducer with magnetic resonance or computed tomography data.

14. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 12 wherein registering comprises adjusting the multi-modality coordinate transformation as a function of a difference in sensor position and scan origin between the first and second ultrasound transducers.

15. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 12 wherein registering comprises determining the multi-modality coordinate transformation with the second transducer having a greater field of view than the first ultrasound transducer.

16. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 12 wherein generating comprises generating the multi-modality image as an ultrasound image from the first ultrasound transducer of a region of a patient and an image of another modality formatted to represent the region.

17. A system for multi-modality medical imaging fusion, the system comprising:

a memory configured to store magnetic resonance (MR) or computed tomography (CT) data representing a volume of a patient;

an ultrasound system configured to scan the patient with first and second ultrasound transducers, the first ultrasound transducer having a wider field of view than the second ultrasound transducer;

a processor configured to register scan data from the second ultrasound transducer with the MR or CT data using a coordinate transformation matrix for scan data from the first ultrasound transducer with the MR or CT data; and

a display configured to display a multi-modality image based on the registration of the scan data from the second ultrasound transducer with the MR or CT data.

18. The system of claim 17 further comprising:

a position sensor connected with the first ultrasound transducer, the second ultrasound transducer, or both;

wherein the registration, the coordinate transformation matrix, or both is a function of position from the position sensor.

19. The system of claim 17 wherein the multi-modality image comprises an image from the scan data from the second ultrasound transducer and from the MR or CT data.

20. The system of claim 17 wherein the scan data from the second ultrasound transducer is acquired with a higher frequency than the scan data from the first ultrasound transducer.