Registering a region of interest of a body part to a landmark subsurface feature of the body part

• US 8,896,679 B2
• Filed: 09/16/2011
• Issued: 11/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/16/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Modulated Imaging, Inc.
• Original Assignee: The Invention Science Fund I, L.L.C. (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Hyde, Roderick A., Kare, Jordin T., Leuthardt, Eric C., Lieberman, Erez, Rivet, Dennis J., Sweeney, Elizabeth A., Wood, Lowell L. Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): Rao, Andy
• Assistant Examiner(s): ELAHI, SHAN E
• Application Number:
  US13/200,114
• Publication Number:
  US 20130070989A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,166 Days
• Field of Search: 348/65
• US Class Current: 348/65
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/000094 extracting biological structures
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0077 Devices for viewing the surface of the body, e.g. camera, magnifying lens
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/506 for diagnosis of nerves
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/5241 combining overlapping images of the same imaging modality, e.g. by stitching
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/5253 combining overlapping images, e.g. spatial compounding
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/00 Pattern recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10068 Endoscopic image
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30028 Colon; Small intestine
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 5/00 Image enhancement or restoration
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0012 Biomedical image inspection
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0014 using an image reference approach
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/337 involving reference images or patches
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/40 relating to mechanical, radiation or invasive therapies, e.g. surgery, laser therapy, dialysis or acupuncture
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 30/20 for handling medical images, e.g. DICOM, HL7 or PACS
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/70 for mining of medical data, e.g. analysing previous cases of other patients
• CPC Class Codes: G16Z 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other main groups of this subclass
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00 Scanning, transmission or reproduction of documents or the like, e.g. facsimile transmission; Details thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/18 Closed-circuit television [CCTV] systems, i.e. systems in which the video signal is not broadcast
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/188 Capturing isolated or intermittent images triggered by the occurrence of a predetermined event, e.g. an object reaching a predetermined position signal generation from motion picture films H04N5/253

Abstract

Described embodiments include a system, method, and computer program product. A described system includes a receiver circuit configured to receive a medical image that includes a region of interest of a mammalian body part, and a reference image that includes a landmark subsurface feature of the mammalian body part, the landmark subsurface feature having a spatial relationship to the region of interest. The system includes a registration circuit configured to register the region of interest and the landmark subsurface feature of the mammalian body part. The system includes a computer-readable, recordable-type media configured to maintain informational data corresponding to the registration of the region of interest and the landmark subsurface feature of the mammalian body part.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

(a) a receiver circuit configured to receive

(i) a medical image that includes a region of interest of a mammalian body part, and

(ii) a reference image that includes a landmark subsurface feature of the mammalian body part, the landmark subsurface feature having a spatial relationship to the region of interest;

(b) an extraction engine configured to extract the landmark subsurface feature from the reference image;

(c) a registration circuit configured to register the spatial relationship between the region of interest and the landmark subsurface feature of the mammalian body part; and

(d) a non-transitory computer-readable media configured to store informational data corresponding to the registration of the spatial relationship between the region of interest and the landmark subsurface feature of the mammalian body part.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the region of interest includes:

a region of interest of an internal mammalian body part.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the region of interest includes:

a region of interest of a mammalian internal tissue.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the region of interest includes:

a region of interest of an external mammalian body part.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the region of interest includes:

a region of interest of a surface of a mammalian body part.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the region of interest includes:

a subsurface region of interest of a mammalian body part.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the region of interest includes:

a region of interest of an interior surface of a gastrointestinal track of a mammal.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the region of interest includes:

a region of interest of an interior surface of an air passageway of a mammalian body part.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the landmark subsurface feature includes:

a subsurface feature of a cavity or lumen of the mammalian body part.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the landmark subsurface feature includes:

a subsurface vascular feature of the mammalian body part.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the landmark subsurface feature includes:

a physical structure, nerve, void, border, component, tissue, structural feature, density variation of the mammalian body part, or a pattern presented by one or more features of the mammalian body part.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the medical image includes:

a medical image that includes a region of interest of a body part of a patient mammal.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the medical image and the reference image are included in information associated with a single digital image.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the medical image was acquired using at least one of PET, x-ray, CAT, coherence tomography (CT) image, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), fluoroscopy, fluorescence based imaging, ultrasound, or microscopy imaging modality.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the medical image was acquired using at least one of a visible light, near infrared light, infrared light, ultraviolet light, passive thermal, or active thermal based imaging modality.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the medical image includes:

a medical image that includes a region of interest of a mammalian body part, the medical image acquired by a body-insertable device while a portion of the body-insertable device was present in a cavity or lumen of the mammalian body part.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the medical image includes:

a medical image that includes a region of interest of a mammalian body part, the medical image acquired by an ex vivo device.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the reference image includes:

(i) a reference image that includes a landmark subsurface feature of the mammalian body part, and (ii) data indicative of an environment of the mammalian body part when the reference image was acquired, the landmark subsurface feature having a spatial relationship to the region of interest.

19. The system of claim 1, wherein the landmark subsurface feature includes:

a landmark subsurface feature having a location, position, orientation, distance, directional, alignment, or axial relationship to the region of interest.

20. The system of claim 1, wherein the reference image includes:

an electronic signal indicative of a landmark subsurface feature of the mammalian body part, the landmark subsurface feature having a spatial relationship to the region of interest.

21. The system of claim 1, wherein the registration circuit includes:

a registration circuit configured to register a location, position, orientation, distance, directional, alignment, or axial relationship of the region of interest relative to the landmark subsurface feature of the mammalian body part.

22. The system of claim 1, wherein the registration circuit includes:

a registration circuit configured to (i) determine a spatial relationship between the region of interest and the landmark subsurface feature, and (ii) register the region of interest relative to the landmark subsurface feature of the mammalian body part in response to the determined spatial relationship.

23. The system of claim 1, wherein the registration circuit includes:

a registration circuit configured to register a spatial relationship of the region of interest relative to at least two landmark subsurface features of the mammalian body part.

24. The system of claim 1, wherein the registration circuit includes:

a registration circuit configured to register a spatial relationship including an orientation of the region of interest relative to the landmark subsurface feature of the mammalian body part.

25. The system of claim 1, wherein the registration circuit includes:

a registration circuit configured to register a spatial relationship including an orientation of the landmark subsurface feature of the mammalian body part relative to the region of interest.

26. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

an extraction engine configured to extract the region of interest from the medical image.

27. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a communication circuit configured to output the informational data.

37. The system of claim 1, wherein the reference image has lower quality than the medical image.

28. A non-transitory computer-readable media storing a computer program that when executed by a processor of a computing device causes the computing device to perform a process, the process comprising:

(i) receiving a medical image that includes a region of interest of a mammalian body part;

(ii) receiving a reference image that includes a landmark subsurface feature of the mammalian body part, the landmark subsurface feature having a spatial relationship to the region of interest;

(iii) extracting the landmark subsurface feature from the reference image;

(iv) registering the spatial relationship between the region of interest and the landmark subsurface feature of the mammalian body part; and

(v) storing in the computer-readable media or in an another computer-readable media operably coupled with the processor informational data corresponding to the registration of the spatial relationship between the region of interest and the landmark subsurface feature of the mammalian body part.

29. The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 28, wherein the process further includes:

transforming the informational data into informational data in providing a particular visual depiction of the region of interest relative to the landmark subsurface feature of the mammalian body part.

30. The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 28, wherein the process further includes:

providing a notification at least partially based on the informational data to at least one of a human, computer, or system.

31. The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 28, wherein the computer-readable media includes a tangible computer-readable media.

32. The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 28, wherein the computer-readable media includes a communications media.

33. A method comprising:

receiving a medical image and a reference image on a receiver circuit, the medical image including a region of interest of a mammalian body part, and the reference image including a landmark subsurface feature of the mammalian body part, the landmark subsurface feature having a spatial relationship to the region of interest;

extracting the landmark subsurface feature from the reference image;

registering the spatial relationship between the region of interest of the mammalian body part and the landmark subsurface feature of the mammalian body part; and

storing in a computer-readable media informational data corresponding to the spatial relationship between the region of interest and the landmark subsurface feature of the mammalian body part.

34. The method of claim 33, further comprising:

outputting the informational data.

35. The method of claim 33, further comprising:

providing a notification at least partially based on the informational data to at least one of a human, computer, or system.

36. The method of claim 33, further comprising:

transforming the informational data into a particular visual depiction of the registration of the region of interest and the landmark subsurface feature.