System and method for surgical instrument disablement via image-guided position feedback

• US 7,899,512 B2
• Filed: 03/14/2005
• Issued: 03/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/22/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Vanderbilt University
• Original Assignee: Vanderbilt University
• Inventors: Fitzpatrick, J. Michael, Labadie, Robert F.
• Primary Examiner(s): JAWORSKI, FRANCIS J
• Application Number:
  US11/079,898
• Publication Number:
  US 20050228256A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,178 Days
• Field of Search: 600/407, 600/411, 600/414, 600426-427, 600/437, 600/439, 600/417, 606/130, 606/1, 606 10- 12, 606/42, 378/4, 378/20, 378/42
• US Class Current: 600/407
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 17/24 for use in the oral cavity, larynx, bronchial passages or nose for medical inspection of cavities or tubes in the body A61B1/00; Tongue scrapers
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/00022 Sensing or detecting at the treatment site
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/00035 pH
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/00057 Light
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/00106 ultrasonic
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/00123 and automatic shutdown
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/00216 with eye tracking or head position tracking control
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/2051 Electromagnetic tracking systems
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/2055 Optical tracking systems
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/2072 Reference field transducer attached to an instrument or patient
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/0801 Prevention of accidental cutting or pricking
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/08021 of the patient or his organs
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/363 Use of fiducial points
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/364 Correlation of different images or relation of image positions in respect to the body
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/372 Details of monitor hardware
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/374 NMR or MRI
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/3954 magnetic, e.g. NMR or MRI
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/3983 Reference marker arrangements for use with image guided surgery
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/502 Headgear, e.g. helmet, spectacles
• 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 90/06 : Measuring instruments not otherwise provided for
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 90/10 : for stereotaxic surgery, e.g. frame-based stereotaxis
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 90/16 : Bite blocks
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 90/36 : Image-producing devices or illumination devices not otherwise provided for
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 90/39 : Markers, e.g. radio-opaque or breast lesions markers

Abstract

A system for selectively disabling a surgical instrument operating in a surgical site of a region of interest of a living subject. In one embodiment, the system includes means for noninvasively placing a number of fiducial markers in an anatomic space of the region of interest of the living subject, means for pre-operatively measuring a location of each fiducial marker in the anatomic space, an imaging acquisition device for pre-operatively acquiring an image volume from the region of interest of the living subject, a probe for intra-operatively monitoring a location of the surgical instrument in the anatomic space, and a controller configured to perform the steps of identifying a centroid of each fiducial marker in the image volume, registering the identified centroid of each fiducial marker in the image volume to the measured location of the corresponding fiducial marker in the anatomic space to determine a registration transformation, mapping the monitored location of the surgical instrument in the anatomic space onto a corresponding location in the image volume by an inverse of the registration transformation, and generating a signal to disable the surgical instrument when the mapped location of the surgical instrument is substantially close to a boundary of the surgical site of the region of interest in the image volume.

Claims

1. A system for selectively disabling a surgical instrument operating in a surgical site of a region of interest of a living subject, wherein the surgical instrument has a distal end portion and is operable by a surgeon during a surgery, comprising:

(a) an eye-tracking device operatively coupled with the surgical instrument for intra-operatively tracking the visual line of sight of the surgeon and a location of the distal end portion of the surgical instrument in the region of interest of the living subject, respectively; and

(b) a controller operatively coupled with the surgical instrument and the eye-tracking device, respectively, and configured to perform during the surgery the steps of;

(i) determining an angle between a visual path connecting a predetermined point of the eye-tracking device and the distal end portion of the surgical instrument in the region of interest of the living subject and the line of sight of the surgeon; and

(ii) generating a signal to disable the surgical instrument when the angle is within a predetermined angle, but not outside of a boundary of the surgical site of the region of interest.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising a display communicating with the controller and the eye-tracking device for displaying the tracked line of sight of the surgeon and the tracked location of the distal end portion of the surgical instrument in the region of interest of the living subject, respectively.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the eye-tracking device comprises a sensor.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the eye-tracking device comprises a head-hold device.

5. A method for selectively disabling a surgical instrument operating in a surgical site of a region of interest of a living subject, wherein the surgical instrument has a distal end portion and is operable by a surgeon during a surgery, comprising the steps of:

(a) intra-operatively tracking the visual line of sight of the surgeon with an intra-operatively tracking means and a location of the distal end portion of the surgical instrument in the region of interest of the living subject, respectively;

(b) determining an angle between a visual path connecting a predetermined point of the intra-operatively tracking means and the distal end portion of the surgical instrument in the region of interest of the living subject and the line of sight of the surgeon; and

(c) generating a signal to disable the surgical instrument when the angle is within a predetermined angle, but not outside of a boundary of the surgical site of the region of interest.