ROBOTIC CONTROL OF AN ENDOSCOPE FROM BLOOD VESSEL TREE IMAGES

• US 20130165948A1
• Filed: 09/13/2011
• Published: 06/27/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/15/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Popovic, Aleksandra
• Granted Patent: US 9,615,886 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 606/130
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/00006 of control signals
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/0005 combining images e.g. side-by-side, superimposed or tiled
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/00149 using articulated arms
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/0016 using motor drive units
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/05 characterised by the image sensor, e.g. camera, being in the distal end portion
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/3137 for examination of the interior of blood vessels
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/00252 for by-pass connections, i.e. connections from heart chamber to blood vessel or from blood vessel to blood vessel
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/301 for introducing or steering flexible instruments inserted into the body, e.g. catheters or endoscopes
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/3614 using optical fibre
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/364 Correlation of different images or relation of image positions in respect to the body
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 34/10 Computer-aided planning, simulation or modelling of surgical operations
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 34/30 Surgical robots
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10068 Endoscopic image
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10072 Tomographic images
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/20072 Graph-based image processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30101 Blood vessel; Artery; Vein; Vascular
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/344 involving models
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/75 involving models

Abstract

A robot guiding system employs a robot unit (10) and a control unit (20). The robot unit (10) includes an endoscope (12) for generating an intra-operative endoscopic image (14) of a blood vessel tree within an anatomical region, and a robot (11) for moving the endoscope (12) within the anatomical region. The control unit (20) includes an endoscope controller (22) for generating an endoscopic path within the anatomical region, wherein the endoscopic path is derived from a matching of a graphical representation of the intra-operative endoscopic image (14) of the blood vessel tree to a graphical representation of a pre-operative three-dimensional image (44) of the blood vessel tree. The control unit (20) further includes a robot controller (21) for commanding the robot (11) to move the endoscope (12) within the anatomical region in accordance with the endoscopic path.

Claims

1. A robot guiding system, comprising:

a robot unit (10) including

an endoscope (12) operable for generating an intra-operative endoscopic image (14) of a blood vessel tree within an anatomical region, and

a robot (11) operable for moving the endoscope (12) within the anatomical region; and

a control unit (20) including

an endoscope controller (22) operable for generating an endoscopic path within the anatomical region, wherein the endoscopic path is derived from a matching of a graphical representation of the intra-operative endoscopic image (14) of the blood vessel tree to a graphical representation of a pre-operative three-dimensional image (44) of the blood vessel tree, and

a robot controller (21) operable for commanding the robot (11) to move the endoscope (12) within the anatomical region in accordance with the endoscopic path.

2. The robot guiding system of claim 1, wherein the matching of the graphical representation of the intra-operative endoscopic image (14) of the blood vessel tree to the graphical representation of the pre-operative three-dimensional image (44) of the blood vessel tree includes:

generating a main graph derived from a geometrical representation of the pre-operative three-dimensional image (44) of the blood vessel tree;

generating a subgraph derived from a geometrical representation of the intra-operative endoscopic image (14) of the blood vessel tree; and

matching the subgraph to the main graph.

3. The robot guiding system of claim 2,

wherein the main graph includes a main set of nodes representative of each furcation of the blood vessel tree within the pre-operative three-dimensional image (44) of the blood vessel tree;

and

wherein the subgraph includes a subset of the main set of nodes, the subset of nodes being representative of each furcation of the blood vessel tree within the intra-operative endoscopic image (14) of the blood vessel tree.

4. The robot guiding system of claim 3, wherein the matching of the subgraph to the main graph includes:

establishing at least one of a vertical ordering and a horizontal ordering of the nodes in the main graph.

5. The robot guiding system of claim 2, wherein the endoscope controller (22) is further operable for overlaying the geometrical representation of the pre-operative three-dimensional image (44) of the blood vessel tree onto the intra-operative endoscopic image (14) of the blood vessel tree in accordance with the matching of the graphical representation of the intra-operative endoscopic image (14) of the blood vessel tree to the graphical representation of the pre-operative three-dimensional image (44) of the blood vessel tree.

6. The robot guiding system of claim 5, wherein the endoscope controller (22) is further operable for generating the endoscopic path within the overlay of the geometrical representation of the pre-operative three-dimensional image (44) of the blood vessel tree onto the intra-operative endoscopic image (14) of the blood vessel tree.

7. The robot guiding system of claim 2,

wherein the matching of the subgraph to the maingraph includes a plurality of matching results of the subset of nodes to the main set of nodes;

and

wherein one of the plurality of matching results is selected as the match of the subgraph to the maingraph.

8. The robot guiding system of claim 1, wherein the blood vessel tree is a coronary artery tree.

9. A control unit (20) for an endoscope (12) operable for generating an intra-operative endoscopic image (14) of a blood vessel tree within an anatomical region and a robot (11) operable for moving the endoscope (12) within the anatomical region, the control unit (20) comprising:

an endoscope controller (22) operable for generating an endoscopic path within the anatomical region, wherein the endoscopic path is derived from a matching of a graphical representation of the intra-operative endoscopic image (14) of the blood vessel tree to a graphical representation of a pre-operative three-dimensional image (44) of the blood vessel tree; and

a robot controller (21) operable for commanding the robot (11) to move the endoscope (12) within the anatomical region in accordance with the endoscopic path.

10. The control unit (20) of claim 9, wherein the matching of the graphical representation of the intra-operative endoscopic image (14) of the blood vessel tree to the graphical representation of the pre-operative three-dimensional image (44) of the blood vessel tree includes:

generating a main graph derived from a geometrical representation of the pre-operative three-dimensional image (44) of the blood vessel tree;

generating a subgraph derived from a geometrical representation of the intra-operative endoscopic image (14) of the blood vessel tree; and

matching the subgraph to the main graph.

11. The control unit (20) of claim 10,

wherein the main graph includes a main set of nodes representative of each furcation of the blood vessel tree within the pre-operative three-dimensional image (44) of the blood vessel tree;

and

wherein the subgraph includes a subset of the main set of nodes, the subset of nodes being representative of each furcation of the blood vessel tree within the intra-operative endoscopic image (14) of the blood vessel tree.

12. The control unit (20) of claim 11, wherein the matching of the subgraph to the main graph includes:

establishing at least one of a vertical ordering and a horizontal ordering of the nodes in the main graph.

13. The control unit (20) of claim 10, wherein the endoscope controller (22) is further operable for overlaying the geometrical representation of the pre-operative three-dimensional image (44) of the blood vessel tree onto the intra-operative endoscopic image (14) of the blood vessel tree in accordance with the matching of the graphical representation of the intra-operative endoscopic image (14) of the blood vessel tree to the graphical representation of the pre-operative three-dimensional image (44) of the blood vessel tree

14. The robot guiding system of claim 13, wherein the endoscope controller (22) is further operable for generating the endoscopic path within an overlay of the geometrical representation of the pre-operative three-dimensional image (44) of the blood vessel tree onto the intra-operative endoscopic image (14) of the blood vessel tree.

15. The robot guiding system of claim 10,

wherein the matching of the subgraph to the maingraph includes a plurality of matching results of the subset of nodes to the main set of nodes;

and

wherein one of the plurality of matching results is selected as the match of the subgraph to the maingraph.

16. A robot guiding method, comprising:

generating an intra-operative endoscopic image (14) of a blood vessel tree within an anatomical region;

generating an endoscopic path within the anatomical region, wherein the endoscopic path is derived from a matching of a graphical representation of the intra-operative endoscopic image (14) of the blood vessel tree to a graphical representation of a pre-operative three-dimensional image (44) of the blood vessel tree; and

commanding a robot (11) to move an endoscope (12) within the anatomical region in accordance with the endoscopic path.

17. The robot guiding method of claim 16, wherein the matching of the graphical representation of the intra-operative endoscopic image (14) of the blood vessel tree to the graphical representation of the pre-operative three-dimensional image (44) of the blood vessel tree includes:

generating a main graph derived from a geometrical representation of the pre-operative three-dimensional image (44) of the blood vessel tree;

generating a subgraph derived from a geometrical representation of the intra-operative endoscopic image (14) of the blood vessel tree; and

matching the subgraph to the main graph.

18. The robot guiding method of claim 17,

wherein the main graph includes a main set of nodes representative of each furcation of the blood vessel tree within the pre-operative three-dimensional image (44) of the blood vessel tree;

and

wherein the subgraph includes a subset of the main set of nodes, the subset of nodes being representative of each furcation of the blood vessel tree within the intra-operative endoscopic image (14) of the blood vessel tree.

19. The robot guiding method of claim 17, further comprising:

overlaying the geometrical representation of the pre-operative three-dimensional image (44) of the blood vessel tree onto the intra-operative endoscopic image (14) of the blood vessel tree in accordance with the matching of the graphical representation of the intra-operative endoscopic image (14) of the blood vessel tree to the graphical representation of the pre-operative three-dimensional image (44) of the blood vessel tree

20. The robot guiding system of claim 19, wherein the endoscopic path is generated within the overlay of the geometrical representation of the pre-operative three-dimensional image (44) of the blood vessel tree onto the intra-operative endoscopic image (14) of the blood vessel tree.