Navigation information overlay onto ultrasound imagery

• US 6,379,302 B1
• Filed: 10/28/1999
• Issued: 04/30/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 10/28/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Medtronic Navigation Incorporated (Medtronic Plc)
• Original Assignee: Surgical Navigation Technologies, Inc. (Medtronic Plc)
• Inventors: Holsing, Troy, Kessman, Paul, Trobaugh, Jason
• Primary Examiner(s): Lateef, Marvin M.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Imam, Ali M.
• Application Number:
  US09/428,720
• Time in Patent Office: 915 Days
• Field of Search: 600/437, 600/439, 600/407, 600/417, 600/424, 600/438, 600/461, 600/462, 600/463, 600/464, 600/485, 395/119, 227/176.1, 606/130
• US Class Current: 600/437
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 17/3403 Needle locating or guiding means guides for suture needles A61B17/0482; guiding or tracking by nuclear magnetic resonance G01R33/285
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/107 Visualisation of planned trajectories or target regions
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/2055 Optical tracking systems
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/256 having a database of accessory information, e.g. including context sensitive help or scientific articles
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/365 augmented reality, i.e. correlating a live optical image with another image
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/376 using X-rays, e.g. fluoroscopy
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/378 using ultrasound
• 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 8/0816 using echo-encephalography
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/0841 for locating instruments
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 90/36 Image-producing devices or illumination devices not otherwise provided for
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 90/361 Image-producing devices, e.g. surgical cameras
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 128/916 Ultrasound 3-D imaging

Abstract

A surgical instrument navigation system comprises an ultrasound machine and a computer coupled to the ultrasound machine. A memory is coupled to the computer and includes computer instructions that when executed by the computer cause the computer to generate an icon representing the surgical instrument with a tip and the surgical instrument'"'"'s trajectory and to overlay the icon on a real-time ultrasound image having an image plane, such that when the surgical instrument crosses the ultrasound image plane the format of the surgical instrument'"'"'s trajectory is changed to represent the surgical instrument'"'"'s crossing of the ultrasound image'"'"'s plane. The system also comprises a localizer coupled to the ultrasound machine, and a display coupled to the computer for displaying the generated icon superimposed on the real-time image.

Claims

1. A surgical instrument navigation system comprising:

an ultrasound machine;

a computer coupled to the ultrasound machine;

a memory coupled to the computer, the memory including computer instructions that when executed by the computer cause the computer to generate an icon representing the surgical instrument with a tip and the surgical instrument'"'"'s trajectory and to overlay the icon on a real-time ultrasound image having an image plane, such that when the surgical instrument crosses the ultrasound image plane the format of the surgical instrument'"'"'s trajectory is changed to represent the surgical instrument'"'"'s crossing of the ultrasound image'"'"'s plane;

a localizer coupled to the ultrasound machine; and

a display coupled to the computer for displaying the generated icon superimposed on the real-time image.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a display which displays a side view of the ultrasound image with a representation of the surgical instrument'"'"'s trajectory displaying the angle at which the surgical instrument'"'"'s trajectory intersects with the ultrasound image.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

means for calculating and displaying the angle at which the surgical instrument'"'"'s trajectory intersects with the ultrasound image.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

moving the localized surgical instrument to a new location; and

displaying an iconic representation of the new location of the surgical instrument on the overlaid image.

5. A system for representing a real-time position of a surgical instrument and its trajectory in a real-time ultrasound image comprising:

means for generating an icon of a surgical instrument and overlaying the icon on the real-time ultrasound image, the icon of the surgical instrument representing the real-time position of the surgical instrument projected into the real-time ultrasound image;

means for representing the icon and its trajectory such that when the surgical instrument crosses the ultrasound image plane the format of the surgical instrument'"'"'s trajectory is changed to represent the surgical instrument'"'"'s crossing of the ultrasound image'"'"'s plane.

6. The system of claim 5, further comprising:

a display which displays a side view of the ultrasound image with a representation of the surgical instrument'"'"'s trajectory displaying the angle at which the surgical instrument'"'"'s trajectory intersects with the ultrasound image.

7. The system of claim 5, further comprising:

means for calculating the angle at which the surgical instrument'"'"'s trajectory intersects with the ultrasound image.

8. A surgical instrument navigation system using a real-time ultrasound image comprising:

means for generating an icon of a surgical instrument and overlaying the icon on the real-time ultrasound image, the icon of the surgical instrument representing the real-time position of the surgical instrument projected into the real-time ultrasound image;

means for extracting a two-dimensional image from another image modality;

means for overlaying the icon of the surgical instrument on the two-dimensional image extracted from another image modality;

means for blending the real-time ultrasound image and the extracted two dimensional image to create a blended representation; and

a display for displaying the blended representation.

9. The system of claim 8, further comprising:

a display for displaying the real-time ultrasound image and the extracted two dimensional image adjacent to each other.

10. A system for representing a real-time position of a surgical instrument and its trajectory in a plurality of real-time ultrasound images comprising:

means for generating a plurality of icons of a surgical instrument corresponding to the plurality of real-time ultrasound images representing a plurality of orthogonal views;

means for extracting a plurality of two-dimensional images from another image modality;

means for overlaying the icons of the surgical instrument on the two-dimensional images extracted from another image modality; and

a display which displays the plurality of the real-time ultrasound images representing the plurality of orthogonal views adjacent to the corresponding plurality of two-dimensional images extracted from another image modality based upon an operator'"'"'s selection.

11. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

means for blending the plurality of real-time ultrasound images and the corresponding plurality of extracted two dimensional image to create a plurality of blended representations; and

a display for displaying the blended representations on an operator'"'"'s selection.

12. A method for surgical navigation using three-dimensional image data-sets comprising:

acquiring a three-dimensional image data-set;

reconstructing the three-dimensional data-set into an orthogonal data-set;

displaying the orthogonal data-set as a three-dimensional image;

overlaying an ultrasound image onto the three-dimensional image creating an overlaid image; and

displaying an iconic representation of a localized surgical instrument onto the overlaid image.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

moving the localized surgical instrument to a new location; and

displaying an iconic representation of the new location of the surgical instrument on the overlaid image.

14. A surgical instrument navigation system comprising:

an ultrasound machine;

a video imaging device;

a computer coupled to both the ultrasound machine and the video imaging device;

a first localizer coupled to the ultrasound machine;

a second localizer coupled to the video imaging device;

a memory coupled to the computer, the memory including computer instructions that when executed by the computer cause the computer to overlay the video images acquired by the video imaging device onto the ultrasound image acquired by the ultrasound device such that the two images correspond to a common coordinate system; and

a display that displays the overlaid images.