Method and apparatus for perspective inversion

• US 9,757,087 B2
• Filed: 06/29/2009
• Issued: 09/12/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Medtronic Navigation Incorporated (Medtronic Plc)
• Original Assignee: Medtronic Navigation Incorporated (Medtronic Plc)
• Inventors: Simon, David A., Rutz, Greg, Rajpal, Monish, Goodchild, Gordon, Haas, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): COOK, CHRISTOPHER L
• Application Number:
  US12/493,670
• Publication Number:
  US 20090262111A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,997 Days
• Field of Search: 600424, 600425, 600426, 600427, 600428, 600429
• 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 2090/364 Correlation of different images or relation of image positions in respect to the body
• 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 6/12 Arrangements for detecting or locating foreign bodies
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/4405 the apparatus being movable or portable, e.g. handheld or mounted on a trolley
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/4441 the rigid structure being a C-arm or U-arm
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/5235 combining images from the same or different ionising radiation imaging techniques, e.g. PET and CT
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/547 involving tracking of position of the device or parts of the device
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/583 using calibration phantoms

Abstract

A surgical instrument navigation system is disclosed that allows a surgeon to invert the three-dimensional perspective of the instrument to match their perspective of the actual instrument. A data processor is operable to generate a three-dimensional representation of a surgical instrument as it would visually appear from either of at least two different perspectives and to overlay the representation of the surgical instrument onto an image data of the patient. The image data and the representations can be displayed on a display.

Claims

1. A method for orienting a displayed representation of a surgical instrument while using a surgical instrument navigation system, comprising:

operating the surgical instrument navigation system to display a two-dimensional image of a patient that is based on an x-ray projection through the patient;

operating the surgical instrument navigation system to track an instrument location of the surgical instrument relative to the patient;

selecting a three-dimensional graphic rendering to represent the surgical instrument to be superimposed on the displayed two-dimensional image, wherein the three-dimensional graphic rendering is selected from one of a rendered first three-dimensional representation of the surgical instrument as the surgical instrument would visually appear from a first perspective at a position relative to the patient or a rendered second three-dimensional representation of the surgical instrument as the surgical instrument would visually appear from a second perspective that is different from the first perspective at the position relative to the patient, wherein the selection is based on an actual operator perspective of the surgical instrument relative to the patient, wherein a profile of the graphic rendering is the same between the rendered first three-dimensional representation of the surgical instrument and the rendered second three-dimensional representation of the surgical instrument; and

viewing the selected three-dimensional rendering that represents the surgical instrument superimposed on the displayed two-dimensional image, wherein the selected three-dimensional rendering that represents the surgical instrument is one of the rendered first three-dimensional representation or the rendered second three-dimensional representation;

wherein the first perspective represents a first orientation of two possible orientations of the surgical instrument relative to the patient and the second perspective represents a second orientation of the two possible orientations of the surgical instrument relative to the patient.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

inputting a selection into the surgical instrument navigation system by an actual operator.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first perspective is a perspective from an imager source.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the second perspective is from an imager receiver.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting by an actual operator user settings of the surgical instrument navigation system, including a zoom and a rotation.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting the position of the surgical instrument relative to a dynamic reference frame fixed to the patient to determine the position of the surgical instrument relative to the patient;

determining a display position of the surgical instrument for display relative to the displayed image data representative of the patient based upon the detected position of the surgical instrument relative to the dynamic reference frame;

wherein displaying the superimposed graphic on the displayed image includes displaying the superimposed graphic of the surgical instrument at the determined position of the surgical instrument relative to the patient, wherein the determined position relative to the patient is unchanged between the first perspective and the second perspective.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a position of an imaging device including the image source that acquired the image data of the patient relative to the dynamic reference frame;

determining a position of the surgical instrument relative to the imaging device based upon the determined position of the surgical instrument relative to the dynamic reference frame; and

calibrating the determined position of the surgical instrument relative to an image plane of the image data representative of the patient.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected graphic superimposed on the displayed image of the selected rendering of the first three-dimensional representation or the second three-dimensional representation only affects contours that give the respective rendered first three-dimensional representation or the rendered second three-dimensional representation of the surgical instrument an appearance into or out of the displayed image.

9. A method for orienting a displayed representation of a surgical instrument while using a surgical instrument navigation system, comprising:

operating the surgical instrument navigation system to display a two-dimensional image of a patient acquired from a first perspective of a x-ray image receiver;

operating the surgical instrument navigation system to track an instrument location of the surgical instrument relative to the patient;

selecting a three-dimensional graphical representation from one of a first rendered three-dimensional graphical representation of the surgical instrument at the instrument location at a first instrument perspective relative to the patient and the x-ray image receiver or a second rendered three-dimensional graphical representation of the surgical instrument at the instrument location at a second instrument perspective relative to a x-ray radiation source that is opposite the x-ray image receiver; and

viewing on a display the selected three-dimensional graphical representation of the first rendered three-dimensional graphical representation of the first instrument perspective or the second rendered three-dimensional graphical representation of the second instrument perspective superimposed on the two-dimensional image at the tracked instrument location superimposed on the two-dimensional image of the patient;

wherein the profile is the same and only contours are affected of the selected three-dimensional graphic representation superimposed on the displayed two-dimensional image between the first rendered three-dimensional graphical representation and second rendered three-dimensional graphical representation, wherein the contours give the respective first rendered three-dimensional graphical representation or the second rendered three-dimensional graphical representation of the surgical instrument a first appearance that is inverted relative to a second appearance relative to the displayed two-dimensional image.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein selecting the three-dimensional graphical representation is to match a user'"'"'s perspective of the surgical instrument relative to the patient in space.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein selecting the three-dimensional graphical representation is to allow the user to invert the graphical representation of the surgical instrument.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the first instrument perspective is from the first perspective.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

selecting the surgical instrument.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein selecting the surgical instrument includes selecting a drill.

15. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

selecting at least one characteristic for displaying the three-dimensional graphical representation.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein selecting the at least one characteristic includes selecting at least one of an orientation, a zoom amount, a rotation, or combinations thereof.

17. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

calibrating an acquired image data to the patient, wherein the image data is used to generate the two-dimensional image.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein calibrating the image data to the patient includes transforming the image data to correct for at least one interference.

19. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

placing a dynamic reference frame on the patient; and

wherein operating the surgical instrument navigation system to track an instrument location of the surgical instrument relative to the patient includes tracking the surgical instrument relative to the placed dynamic reference frame.

20. The method of claim 9, wherein selecting one of the rendered tracked location of the surgical instrument includes manually inputting into the surgical instrument navigation system the selected perspective.

21. A method for orienting a displayed representation of a surgical instrument while using a surgical instrument navigation system, comprising:

viewing, by a user, a displayed image including a two-dimensional image of a patient received from an x-ray imaging device;

operating the surgical instrument navigation system to track a first instrument position of the surgical instrument relative to the patient;

inputting, by the user, a first selected perspective of the surgical instrument into the surgical instrument navigation system, wherein the selected perspective is an actual perspective of the surgical instrument as the surgical instrument visually appears from a perspective of the user relative to the patient when viewing the surgical instrument at a location of the user at the tracked first instrument position or a second selected perspective of the surgical instrument into the surgical instrument navigation system, wherein the second selected alternative perspective is different than the first selected perspective;

viewing on a display device a superimposed three-dimensional graphical rendering of the surgical instrument at the inputted first selected perspective or the second selected perspective of the surgical instrument on the viewed two-dimensional image of the patient; and

maintaining a profile of the three-dimensional graphical rendering of the surgical instrument superimposed on the displayed image to be the same between (i) the inputted first selected perspective and (ii) the inputted second selected perspective;

wherein only contours are effected between (i) the three-dimensional graphical rendering of the surgical instrument superimposed on the displayed image at the inputted first selected perspective and (ii) the three-dimensional graphical rendering of the surgical instrument superimposed on the displayed image at the inputted second selected perspective to give the respective (i) three-dimensional graphical rendering of the surgical instrument superimposed on the displayed image at the inputted first selected perspective or (ii) the three-dimensional graphical rendering of the surgical instrument superimposed on the displayed image at the inputted second selected perspective an appearance of into or out of the displayed image.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

operating the surgical navigation system to operate a graphic rendering software to render the selected perspective.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein inputting, by the user, the first selected perspective or the second selected perspective of the surgical instrument into the surgical instrument navigation system includes operating the surgical navigation system to operate the graphic rendering software to render at least a first three-dimensional representation of the surgical instrument as the surgical instrument would appear going into the viewed two-dimensional image and rendering and a second three-dimensional representation of the surgical instrument as the surgical instrument would appear coming out of the viewed two-dimensional image.

24. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

operating the surgical instrument navigation system to track a first position of the imaging device and tracking a second instrument position of the surgical instrument.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

placing a dynamic reference frame on the patient; and

wherein tracking the second instrument position of the instrument includes detecting the second position of the surgical instrument relative to the dynamic reference frame;

wherein viewing on the display device the superimposed three-dimensional graphical rendering of the surgical instrument includes displaying the three-dimensional rendering of the surgical instrument at the detected second position of the surgical instrument relative to the patient displayed on the display device with the image data.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

operating the surgical instrument navigation system to calibrate the position of the surgical instrument relative to an image plane of the displayed two-dimensional image based on image data acquired with the imaging device and the tracked first position of the imaging device and the tracked second instrument position of the surgical instrument.

27. A method for orienting a displayed representation of a surgical instrument while using a surgical instrument navigation system, comprising:

viewing, by a user, a displayed image including a two-dimensional image of a patient received from an x-ray imaging device;

operating the surgical instrument navigation system to track a first instrument position of the surgical instrument relative to the patient;

inputting, by the user, a selected perspective of the surgical instrument into the surgical instrument navigation system, wherein the selected perspective is an actual perspective of the surgical instrument as the surgical instrument visually appears from a perspective of the user relative to the patient when viewing the surgical instrument at a location of the user at the tracked first instrument position;

viewing on a display device a superimposed three-dimensional graphical rendering of the surgical instrument at the inputted selected perspective of the surgical instrument on the viewed two-dimensional image of the patient; and

maintaining a profile of the three-dimensional graphical rendering to be the same between a first selected perspective rendered three-dimensional representation of the surgical instrument and a second selected perspective rendered three-dimensional representation of the surgical instrument;

wherein the three-dimensional graphical rendering superimposed on the displayed image of the first selected perspective rendered three-dimensional representation of the surgical instrument or the second selected perspective rendered three-dimensional representation of the surgical instrument only affects contours that give the respective first selected perspective rendered three-dimensional representation of the surgical instrument or the second selected perspective rendered three-dimensional representation of the surgical instrument an appearance into or out of the displayed image.