Apparatus and method for photogrammetric surgical localization
First Claim
1. An apparatus for establishing a workspace coordinate reference framework for features of a medical workspace including a patient'"'"'s body region, the apparatus comprising:
- a calibration fiducial structure having fiducial markers supported in a fixed, known spatial relationship relative to each other, said calibration fiducial structure being positionable in the medical workspace;
an imager positioned relative to the medical workspace and capable of producing calibration images of the medical workspace with the calibration fiducial structure positioned thereina digitizer in communication with the optical imager and capable of receiving calibration information relating to the calibration images and producing digitized calibration image signals,a computer in communication with the digitizer, the computer being programmed toreceive the calibration image signals,establish, from the calibration image signals and the known spatial relationship of the fiducial markers, a workspace coordinate framework defining the workspace in three dimensional coordinates; and
determine workspace coordinates of the features of the workspace.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for defining the location of a medical instrument relative to features of a medical workspace including a patient'"'"'s body region are described. Pairs of two-dimensional images are obtained, preferably by means of two video cameras making images of the workspace along different sightlines which intersect. A fiducial structure is positioned in the workspace for defining a three dimensional coordinate framework, and a calibration image pair is made. The calibration image pair comprises two 2D projections from different locations of the fiducial structure. After the calibration image pair is made, the fiducial structure is removed. A standard projection algorithm is used to reconstruct the 3D framework of the fiducial structure from the calibration image pair. Appropriate image pairs can then be used to locate and track any other feature such as a medical instrument, in the workspace, so long as the cameras remain fixed in their positions relative to the workspace. The computations are desirably performed with a computer workstation including computer graphics capability, image processing capability, and providing a real-time display of the workspace as imaged by the video cameras. Also, the 3D framework of the workspace can be aligned with the 3D framework of any selected volume scan, such as MRI, CT, or PET, so that the instrument can be localized and guided to a chosen feature. No guidance arc or other apparatus need be affixed to the patient to accomplish the tracking and guiding operations.
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Citations
48 Claims
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1. An apparatus for establishing a workspace coordinate reference framework for features of a medical workspace including a patient'"'"'s body region, the apparatus comprising:
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a calibration fiducial structure having fiducial markers supported in a fixed, known spatial relationship relative to each other, said calibration fiducial structure being positionable in the medical workspace; an imager positioned relative to the medical workspace and capable of producing calibration images of the medical workspace with the calibration fiducial structure positioned therein a digitizer in communication with the optical imager and capable of receiving calibration information relating to the calibration images and producing digitized calibration image signals, a computer in communication with the digitizer, the computer being programmed to receive the calibration image signals, establish, from the calibration image signals and the known spatial relationship of the fiducial markers, a workspace coordinate framework defining the workspace in three dimensional coordinates; and determine workspace coordinates of the features of the workspace. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. An apparatus for establishing a workspace coordinate reference framework for features of a medical workspace including a patient'"'"'s body region, the apparatus comprising:
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a calibration fiducial structure having fiducials supported in a fixed, known spatial relationship relative to each other, said calibration fiducial structure being positionable in the medical workspace; an imager positioned relative to the medical workspace and capable of producing calibration images of the medical workspace with the calibration fiducial structure positioned therein; a digitizer in communication with the imager and capable of receiving calibration information relating to the calibration images and producing digitized calibration image signals; and a computer in communication with the digitizer, the computer being configured to receive the calibration image signals, establish, from the calibration image signals and the known spatial relationship of the fiducials, a workspace coordinate framework defining the workspace in three dimensional coordinates, receive a set of scan coordinates of a scan image in a scan coordinate framework, the scan image having identifiable features, align the scan coordinate framework with the workspace coordinate framework, and determine workspace coordinates of the identifiable features. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. An apparatus for defining a location of a medical instrument relative to features of a medical workspace including a patient'"'"'s body region, comprising:
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a workspace imager positionable for producing a plurality images of the medical workspace, wherein at least two of said images are made from one of each of two sightlines, said sightlines intersecting at an angle; a digitizer operably disposed for digitizing each of said images to produce sets of digital image signals, one said set of digital image signals corresponding to each of said images; a fiducial structure positionable in said workspace having fiducial markers held in fixed spatial relation to one another; and a computer connected to said digitizer to receive said digital image signals therefrom, said computer being programed to establish a workspace coordinate framework in three dimensions from said images made when said fiducial structure is positioned within said workspace, determine workspace coordinates in said workspace coordinate framework of any selected point which can be identified from said images, receive a set of scan coordinates for selected landmarks present in a scan made in a scan coordinate framework, correlate said scan coordinates with the workspace coordinates of said landmarks as derived from one of the images, and convert the scan coordinates of a selected feature in said scan to corresponding workspace coordinates in said workspace framework. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. An apparatus for localizing a medical instrument relative to features of a patient'"'"'s body region, comprising:
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a fiducial structure positionable in a medical workspace having fiducial markers located in a known, fixed relation to each other; a workspace imager positionable for producing at least a pair of images of said medical workspace, said image pair comprising two images made along one of each of a different one of two sightlines, said sightlines intersecting at an angle; a digitizer operably disposed for digitizing each of said images of said image pair to produce sets of digital image signals, one said set of digital image signals corresponding to each of said images; and a computer connected to said digitizer to receive said digital image signals therefrom, said computer being operable to determine a first 2D coordinate from one member of a calibration image pair and a second 2D coordinate from the other member of said calibration image pair, said calibration image pair being an image pair made with said fiducial structure positioned in said medical workspace, compute a 3D workspace coordinate framework from the known, fixed relation of the fiducial markers in combination with said first and second 2D coordinates, compute an algorithm for converting any 2D coordinates derived from a subsequent image pair made after said fiducial structure is removed from said medical workspace, to corresponding 3D workspace coordinates, determine a set of 2D image coordinates reflective of a current position of a feature of interest present in both images of said subsequent image pair, and convert said set of 2D image coordinates to a set of corresponding workspace 3D coordinates. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26)
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27. A method for establishing a workspace reference framework for features of a medical workspace including a patient'"'"'s body region, the method comprising the steps of:
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providing a calibration fiducial structure having fiducials supported in a fixed, known spatial relationship relative to each other, an imager positioned relative to the medical workspace, a digitizer in communication with the imager, and a computer in communication with the digitizer; producing calibration images of the medical workspace with the calibration fiducial structure positioned therein; producing digitized calibration image signals from the calibration images; establishing, from the calibration image signals and the known spatial relationship of the fiducials, a workspace coordinate framework defining the workspace in three dimensional coordinates; determining the workspace coordinates of features of the medical workspace; and producing subsequent images of the medical workspace. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30)
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31. A method of localizing a feature of interest in a workspace, comprising the steps of:
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providing a fiducial structure comprising fiducials and a support connecting said fiducials in a known, fixed relation to each other; making calibration images of the workspace comprising two 2D images of the fiducial structure positioned in the workspace such that the fiducials are visible in the calibration images; digitizing the 2D images of the calibration images; determining a first 2D coordinate from at least one of the calibration images and a second 2D coordinate from at least a second of the calibration images; computing a 3D workspace coordinate framework from said first and second 2D coordinate and the known, fixed relation of the fiducials; making subsequent images comprising 2D images of the workspace having a patient'"'"'s body region therein; digitizing the 2D images of the subsequent images and creating 3D images of the subsequent images; and determining workspace 3D coordinates of a feature of interest in the workspace from the 3D images of the subsequent images. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. A method for localization of features of a medical workspace including a patient'"'"'s body region, the method comprising the steps of:
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providing a calibration fiducial structure having fiducial markers supported in a fixed, known spatial relationship relative to each other, a plurality of cameras positioned relative to the medical workspace, a digitizer in communication with the plurality of cameras, and a computer in communication with the digitizer and storing a set of scan coordinates of a scan image in a scan coordinate framework, the scan image having identifiable features; producing at least one calibration image pair of the medical workspace with the calibration fiducial structure positioned therein; producing digitized calibration image signals from calibration information relating to the calibration image pair; establishing, from the calibration image signals and the known spatial relationship of the fiducial markers, a workspace coordinate framework defining the workspace in three dimensional coordinates; producing at least a subsequent image pair of the medical workspace; producing digitized subsequent image signals from subsequent information relating to subsequent image pairs; determining workspace coordinates of a feature of the medical workspace from the subsequent image signals; aligning the scan coordinate framework with the workspace coordinate framework; and determining a locational relationship between the feature of the medical workspace and features identified from the scan image. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45)
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46. A method of stereotaxic localization of a medical instrument with respect to a structure within a patient'"'"'s body region, comprising the steps of:
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providing an imager positioned for making a plurality of image pairs of a medical workspace having a patient'"'"'s body region disposed therein, wherein each of said image pairs comprises a first 2D image made along a first sightline and a second 2D image made along a second sightline which intersects said first sightline at an angle;
providing a fiducial structure for establishing a workspace coordinate framework, and including fiducials which are fixed with respect to one another, and having known spacings from one another;making a calibration image pair comprising calibration 2D images, wherein the fiducials are visible in first and second images of the calibration image pair; digitizing the calibration 2D images to produced digitized calibration 2D images;
computing a 3D workspace coordinate framework from the digitized calibration 2D images and the known spacings of the fiducials;providing an internal scan of the patient'"'"'s body region to identify one or more internal features; providing a medical instrument having an operative portion and having known dimensions; making and digitizing a subsequent image pair of the workspace having a portion of the medical instrument visible in both images of the subsequent image pair to produce a digitized subsequent image pair; computing workspace coordinates of the visible portion of the medical instrument from the digitized subsequent image pair; computing workspace coordinates of an operative portion of the medical instrument from the workspace coordinates of the visible portion; and determining a locational relationship between the operative portion of the medical instrument and one or more internal features identified from the scan. - View Dependent Claims (47, 48)
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Specification