Determination of the surrounding wall of an organ cavity

Abstract

To provide a method for determining an enclosing surface of a cavity of an organ of a patient.SOLUTION: A method for determining an enclosing surface of a cavity of an organ of a patient includes receiving a plurality of data points including respective position measurements in the cavity. A first iterative process is performed that progressively divides sub-volumes into smaller sub-volumes until a density of the data points in each sub-volume falls below a predefined density. A second iterative process is performed that progressively discards sub-volumes that are fully surrounded by populated sub-volumes, and discards the data points contained in the discarded sub-volumes. The enclosing surface of the cavity is defined based on the data points remaining after the second iterative process. The enclosing surface of the cavity is presented to a user.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates generally to electroanatomical mapping, and more particularly to the analysis of electroanatomical data. [Background technology]

[0002] Various techniques have been proposed to generate electroanatomical maps of the heart from intracardiac electroanatomical measurements. For example, U.S. Patent No. 7,586,489 describes a method for generating a three-dimensional (3D) surface defined by the boundary of a 3D point cloud. The method includes generating a density map and a depth map from the 3D point cloud, constructing a 2D mesh from the depth map and the density map, converting the 2D mesh to a 3D mesh, and rendering the 3D polygons defined by the 3D mesh. One method for reducing the number of polygons rendered without losing detail is to simplify the 2D mesh. One method for simplifying the 2D mesh is to combine similar adjacent cells using a quadtree hierarchy. In general, this allows the combined cells in the hierarchy to be represented by a small number of mesh patterns, for example by ensuring that no two adjacent cells differ by more than one level in the quadtree hierarchy.

[0003] As another example, US Patent Application Publication No. 2019 / 0197765 describes an augmented reality / mixed reality system for viewing imaged anatomical structures that provides a more immersive user experience, where the use of depth sensor data augmented with lower level reconstruction data results in a faster update rate of occlusion data. Changes in the physical world can be quickly reflected in the occlusion data when operating in a real-time dynamic environment. Rendering occlusion using live depth data augmented with lower level 3D reconstruction data, such as ray cast point clouds, can significantly reduce the latency of visual occlusion processing. Generating occlusion data in this manner can provide faster operation of the X-ray system using fewer computational resources. When generating and storing information about the representation of the point cloud, information is also kept in memory that allows for the determination of the triangle in the triangular surface model in which each point of the point cloud is located. Information is also stored for the creation of a bounding volume (BV) hierarchy. Summary of the Invention [Means for solving the problem]

[0004] One embodiment of the present invention provides a method for determining an enclosing surface of a cavity of an organ of a patient, the method including receiving a plurality of data points including respective position measurements within the cavity. A first iterative process is performed that progressively divides the subvolume into smaller subvolumes until the density of data points within each subvolume falls below a predefined density. A second iterative process is performed that progressively discards subvolumes that are completely surrounded by dense subvolumes and discards data points contained within the discarded subvolumes. The enclosing surface of the cavity is defined based on the data points remaining after the second iterative process. The enclosing surface of the cavity is presented to a user.

[0005] In some embodiments, performing the first iterative process includes constructing a tree graph having multiple levels, where vertices represent sub-volumes and children of the vertices represent sub-volumes into which the volume represented by the vertices is divided.

[0006] In some embodiments, performing the second iteration process includes traversing the vertices of the tree graph starting from the selected level, and discarding the traversed vertex and children of the traversed vertex from the tree graph if a sub-volume corresponding to the traversed vertex is found to be surrounded by a dense sub-volume.

[0007] In some embodiments, the selected level is determined according to a required resolution of the enclosing surface, hi one embodiment, defining the enclosing surface includes interpolating or connecting the remaining data points.

[0008] In another embodiment, presenting the encircling surface includes overlaying electrophysiological measurements onto the encircling surface.

[0009] In some embodiments, the sub-volume comprises a cube, hi other embodiments, the sub-volume comprises a tetrahedron.

[0010] According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is further provided a system configured to determine an enclosing surface of a cavity of an organ of a patient, the system including an interface and a processor. The interface is configured to receive a plurality of data points including respective position measurements within the cavity. The processor is configured to (a) perform a first iterative process of progressively dividing the subvolume into smaller subvolumes until a density of data points within each subvolume falls below a predetermined density, (b) perform a second iterative process of progressively discarding subvolumes that are completely surrounded by dense subvolumes and discarding data points contained within the discarded subvolumes, (c) define an enclosing surface of the cavity based on the data points remaining after the second iterative process, and (d) present the enclosing surface of the cavity to a user. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0011] The present invention will be more fully understood from the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the drawings, in which: [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a schematic, depiction of a system for electroanatomical (EA) mapping, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2] 2 is a schematic tree graph used to determine an enclosing surface from point cloud data acquired by the system of FIG. 1 in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 3] FIG. 3 is a flow diagram that illustrates generally a method for determining the surrounding surface of the heart from a cloud of electro-anatomical data points using the tree graph of FIG. 2, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 4] 4 is a schematic, pictorial volume rendering of an anatomical map including a surface encompassing the left atrium, generated by the method described in FIG. 3, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention; DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0012] Overview When imaging a cavity within a patient's organ, such as a heart chamber, it may be desirable to model the cavity's enclosing surface, i.e., the cavity wall. When performing cardiac imaging, for example, electrophysiological values ​​may be estimated and overlaid onto the wall of the heart chamber. The enclosing surface may be estimated using point cloud data acquired by a probe, such as a mapping catheter, during an electroanatomical (EA) mapping procedure. A processor may estimate the enclosing surface using data points spanning both the blood volume and the wall surface, but such calculations take a relatively long time to complete.

[0013] For example, previously proposed methods for finding an enclosing shell for a point cloud, such as the IBM ball-spinning method, may be adapted to generate the surface of a heart cavity (e.g., the left atrium). However, the complexity of such methods typically grows linearly with the number of data points in the cloud, consuming time and computational resources.

[0014] The exemplary embodiment of the present invention described below provides a method for determining the cavity envelope from nearly logarithmically growing point cloud data. The efficiency of the disclosed method relies on the ability of the method to easily identify and discard irrelevant volumetric data (e.g., data points that are not adjacent to the surface). More specifically, in the best case scenario, the complexity of the disclosed method will grow as O(log(n)), and in the worst case scenario, the complexity will grow as O(nlog(n)). Typically, the complexity of the disclosed method tends to be logarithmic, especially when the number of data points n is large enough. Thus, the disclosed method is best suited for finding the cavity envelope based on dense EA mapping, but is also suitable for use with sparse EA mapping methods.

[0015] In a disclosed embodiment, the processor receives "point cloud data," i.e., a number of data points. The data points include, for example, position measurements obtained by a mapping catheter moved across a heart chamber. For simplicity, considering the analysis of the point cloud in 2D first, the processor first constructs a boundary curve around the point cloud, typically a bounding square. The processor then divides this square region, for example, into four sub-squares (e.g., using a quadtree data structure), and further divides each of the four square regions. The process of division continues until the density of points in each sub-square is less than a predetermined density, e.g., until there are fewer than a predetermined number of points in each square region at the time the division stage is stopped.

[0016] The splits are tracked level by level, and the processor forms a tree graph in which different branches of the graph have different bottom levels (e.g., smallest sub-squares for a given branch of the tree graph), as described below. Each vertex in the tree graph corresponds to a square defined by the processor. The root of the tree graph represents the initial bounding square. The direct children of a vertex correspond to sub-squares of the square represented by the vertex. The leaves of the tree graph represent the smallest sub-squares at which splits stopped.

[0017] The above 2D example is given primarily for ease of explanation: in a real implementation, the point cloud data would typically contain 3D position measurements, and the processor would define a 3D cube that is subdivided into sub-cubes.

[0018] In the context of this disclosure, a lower level is defined as a level closer to the leaves, i.e., the next level received after further division. Thus, the next lower level in the tree graph marks the next smaller sub-area in the 2D case, or a smaller sub-volume in the 3D case.

[0019] Once the tree graph is constructed, the processor proceeds to estimate the enclosing surface of the point cloud data using the tree graph. The determination of the enclosing perimeter of the point cloud using the tree graph begins by selecting a suitable lower-level (but not too low-level) tree graph. The relationship between the suitable lower level and a given EA mapping is determined, for example, by setting a threshold for the required resolution (e.g., allowing for subdivision down to 1 millimeter-sized subcubes, which is clinically sufficient resolution for EA maps). The processor analyzes each subsquare belonging to the selected level to check whether it is completely surrounded by dense subsquares belonging to the selected level (i.e., by subsquares containing at least a predefined number of points, which are used as a stopping criterion when constructing the tree graph).

[0020] While the stopping criteria used above (i.e., for splitting and for checking for surrounding dense sub-squares) are the same, in other exemplary embodiments, one criterion (e.g., a first predefined number) is applied to stop sub-partitioning a volume when building the tree, and a different criterion (e.g., a second predefined number) is applied to determine whether a volume is surrounded by a dense volume.

[0021] If a square is completely surrounded by four contiguous subsquares, the processor concludes that the subsquare is an "interior" square in the cloud. In such a case, all lower level squares contained in the checked subsquare are interior to the cloud. Thus, all data points in the checked square can be removed from the point cloud, and all lower level squares in the checked square can be removed from the analysis. To this end, the processor eliminates from the tree graph (i) the vertex representing the analyzed subsquare and (ii) the entire branch below the selected vertex (i.e., all direct and indirect children of the vertex).

[0022] However, if a subsquare is not completely surrounded by a dense square, i.e., at least one enclosing subsquare has less than a predetermined number of points within it, the processor assumes that the data points within the subsquare are part of the "outer" perimeter boundary of the point cloud.

[0023] The analysis continues by analyzing subsquares belonging to the next lower level of the branches of the remaining tree graph until no incompletely enclosed subsquares are left at any level, such that the remaining (non-completely enclosed) squares contain only data points belonging to the fringe boundary of the group.

[0024] For point clouds in 3D, the initial analysis begins by the processor building a boundary surface around the 3D point cloud, typically a bounding cube. This cube is then divided (e.g., using an octree data structure) into subvolumes, e.g., 8 subcubes, and the division continues until the density of points in each subvolume is less than a predefined density, e.g., less than a predefined number in each subvolume (e.g., subcube), at which point the division stops. Interior subcubes are found by checking whether the cube is surrounded by 6 dense subcubes (i.e., the subcubes checked at a given level still contain at least a predefined number of points that are used as a stopping criterion when building the tree graph).

[0025] If the subcube satisfies the above condition, the processor assumes that the subcube is an interior subcube.The processor then eliminates the analyzed subcube and the entire branch below the selected subcube from the tree graph (i.e., eliminates all lower level vertices from the tree graph).If the subcube does not satisfy this condition, the processor concludes that the subcube contains data points that belong to the boundary face of the point cloud.

[0026] The analysis continues by analyzing subcubes belonging to the next lower level of the remaining tree graph until only non-fully enclosed subcubes are left at all levels, i.e., the remaining subcubes contain data points (e.g., positions and respective potential values) of the boundary surfaces of the point cloud.

[0027] After the tree graph has been fully analyzed, the processor may post-process the remaining data points to present a smooth surface in 3D space, for example, by interpolating between adjacent remaining data points. The processor may then display the estimated outer surface of the cavity to a user (e.g., a physician) along with the corresponding electrophysiological measurements overlaid on the estimated outer surface.

[0028] The size of the smallest subcube per branch of the tree graph needs to be small enough, e.g., a few millimeters to a few millimeters minimum size, to generate a useful map. A typical heart chamber, such as the left atrium, is easily enclosed within a 7 centimeter sized cube, so it is sufficient to run the disclosed algorithm up to level 5, e.g., to partition the space into approximately minimum sized 2 millimeter sized subcubes at the lowest level of the respective tree graph. Furthermore, in exemplary embodiments, the bounding shape may be other than a cube, e.g., a box of non-uniform XYZ dimensions, depending on the general shape of the cavity under analysis. For example, for an elongated cavity, such as the left ventricle, running the disclosed algorithm up to level 5 would result in partitioning an 8x8x10 cm bounding box into subboxes of a minimum size of approximately 2x2x4 mm.

[0029] As used herein, the term "about" or "approximately" with respect to any numerical value or range of numerical values ​​indicates a suitable dimensional tolerance that allows a portion of a component or a collection of components to function for the intended purpose described herein. More specifically, "about" or "approximately" may refer to a range of values ​​of ±20% of the recited value, for example, "about 90%" may refer to a range of values ​​of 71% to 99%.

[0030] In some example embodiments, the processor may check whether the cube is surrounded by a different number of adjacent dense subcubes than the number in its six facets (e.g., including also diagonally adjacent subcubes, or considering only a subset of all six facets).

[0031] In other exemplary embodiments, the processor may divide the volume bounded by the bounding surfaces into subvolumes of any shape (e.g., polygons) and repeatedly divide the subvolumes until there are fewer than a predetermined number of points in each subvolume. For example, the processor may repeatedly divide the bounding volume into subvolumes that contain tetrahedrons. The processor then checks each subvolume to determine whether it is completely surrounded by a dense subvolume (e.g., a dense tetrahedron) with the number of adjacent polygons adapted to the number of facets (four for a tetrahedron) in a manner similar to the cube described above.

[0032] Typically, the processor is programmed with software containing specific algorithms that enable the processor to perform each of the processor-related steps and functions outlined above.

[0033] It will be appreciated that the method applies only to "well-behaved" boundary shells, i.e., shells such as the surfaces of heart chambers that are (approximately) topologically equivalent to ellipsoids. The method does not apply to topologically "complex" shells that, for example, include interior spaces.

[0034] By using the disclosed surface finding methods with a sufficiently large point cloud dataset, a processor can derive a surface map with minimal computational effort and therefore a small amount of available computational resources, thus enabling a low-cost EA mapping solution.

[0035] System Description FIG. 1 is a schematic depiction of a system 21 for electroanatomical (EA) mapping, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 shows a physician 27 using an EA Pentaray® mapping catheter 29 to perform EA mapping of a heart 23 of a patient 25. The catheter 29 comprises at its distal end one or more arms 20, which may be mechanically flexible, with one or more electrodes 22 coupled to each arm. During a mapping procedure, the catheter is moved within a cavity of the heart 23, and the electrodes 22 acquire and / or inject monopolar and / or bipolar signals from and / or into the blood and wall tissue of the cavity. A processor 28 receives these signals via an electrical interface 35 and uses the information contained in these signals to construct point cloud data, resulting in an EA map 31 of the cavity, which is stored by the processor 28 in memory 33. During and / or following the procedure, the processor 28 can display the EA map 31 on the display 26.

[0036] As mentioned above, the majority of the point cloud data collected by EA mapping system 21 is extraneous blood data. In an embodiment of the present invention, processor 28 identifies and omits the blood data and constructs EA map 31 by determining the cardiac envelope from only a portion of the acquired cloud of electroanatomical data points, thereby reducing the nearly logarithmic growth of computational complexity.

[0037] A tracking system can be used to track the location of each of the sensing electrodes 22 during the procedure, thereby associating each of the signals with the location where the signal was obtained. For example, the Advanced Catheter Location (ACL) system from Biosense-Webster (Irvine, California), described in U.S. Patent No. 8,456,182, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, may be used. In the ACL system, a processor estimates the location of each of the electrodes based on the impedance measured between each of the sensing electrodes 22 and a number of surface electrodes 24 coupled to the skin of the patient 25. For example, three surface electrodes 24 may be coupled to the patient's chest and another three surface electrodes may be coupled to the patient's back. (For ease of illustration, only one surface electrode is shown in FIG. 1.)

[0038] Currents are passed between the electrodes 22 inside the heart 23 of the patient 25 and the surface electrodes 24. The processor 28 calculates the estimated locations of all the electrodes 22 within the patient's heart 23 based on the ratios between the current amplitudes (or between the impedances indicated by these amplitudes) measured at the surface electrodes 24 and the known locations of the electrodes 24 on the patient's body. The processor 28 can thus associate any given impedance signal received from an electrode 22 with the location at which the signal was obtained to generate a constellation of electroanatomical data points.

[0039] The illustration shown in FIG. 1 is chosen solely for the purpose of conceptual clarity. Other tracking methods may be used, such as methods based on measuring voltage signals. Other types of sensing catheters, such as the Lasso® catheter (Biosense Webster), may equally be employed. A contact sensor may be attached to the distal end of the EA catheter 29. As mentioned above, other types of electrodes, such as electrodes used for ablation, may be attached to electrodes 22 for acquiring the required position data and utilized in a similar manner. Thus, in this case, the ablation electrodes used to collect the position data are considered to be the sensing electrodes. In an optional embodiment, the processor 28 is further configured to indicate the quality of physical contact between each of the electrodes 22 and the inner surface of the heart chamber during the measurement.

[0040] Processor 28 typically comprises a general-purpose computer that is programmed with software to perform the functions described herein. In particular, processor 28 executes the dedicated algorithms disclosed herein, including with reference to Figure 3, that enable processor 28 to perform the steps of the present disclosure, as described further below. The software may be downloaded in electronic form to the computer, for example over a network, or alternatively or additionally may be provided and / or stored on a non-transitory tangible medium, such as a magnetic, optical or electronic memory.

[0041] Find the enclosing surface of a cavity represented by a point cloud 2 is a schematic tree graph 40 used to determine an enclosing surface from point cloud data acquired by system 21 of FIG. 1, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Such typical point cloud data of an EA map includes locations and corresponding electrical potential values, but may also include other types of data, such as the contact force of the catheter at the location. Considering a 2D point cloud for ease of explanation, processor 28 first constructs a bounding square 42 around the point cloud. This square is divided into four sub-squares 44, each of which is further divided into sub-squares 46, which typically results in various branches of tree graph 40 containing minimal sub-squares of various sizes.

[0042] The splits are tracked with corresponding levels 0, 1, 2..., as seen in line level legend 41 for each split. As can be seen in the figure, in one branch the split ends at level 2 of the tree graph 40, while in other branches it ends at levels 3, 4, 5 or 7. The splitting process continues until there are less than a predefined number of points in each square, then the splitting is stopped.

[0043] Determining the enclosing perimeter using tree graph 40 begins by analyzing the appropriate lower-level tree graph, determined as described above. As can be seen, each subsquare is analyzed (50, 54) to check whether it is completely enclosed. If a square is completely enclosed by four contiguous squares, such as subsquare 52, then the square will be an "interior" square to the cloud. Also, all lower-level (i.e., smaller area) subsquares contained within the checked square are interior. Thus, all points of the checked subsquare 52 can be removed from the point cloud, and all lower-level squares within subsquare 52 (such lower-level squares are shown in tree graph 40) can be removed from the analysis.

[0044] However, if a subsquare is not completely surrounded, i.e., at least one enclosing square has less than a predetermined number of points inside, such as subsquare 56 having an enclosing subsquare 58 that is mostly empty of data points, processor 28 assumes that the data points inside the non-completely surrounded square are part of the boundary "outer" perimeter of the point cloud. The analysis continues until all completely surrounded subsquares, such as subsquare 52, have been eliminated, so that only the data points belonging to the remaining non-completely surrounded squares form the boundary perimeter (e.g., the boundary surface) of the cloud.

[0045] 3 is a flow chart that generally illustrates a method for determining the cardiac envelope from a cloud of electroanatomical data points using the tree graph 40 of FIG. 2, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The algorithm according to this embodiment executes a process that begins at data reception step 70 with the processor 28 receiving point cloud mapping data, such as that acquired by the catheter 29 during an EA mapping session as shown in FIG. 1. The point cloud mapping data includes a plurality of data points, each of which includes a 3D position measurement. Some or all of the data points may also include corresponding EP measurements.

[0046] Processor 28 then constructs a bounding surface, such as a bounding cube (as shown in 2D by square 42 in FIG. 2) that encloses the volume containing the data points, in a bounding surface construction step 72 .

[0047] The processor then divides the volume enclosed by the bounding faces into sub-cubes in a divide cube step 74. In a check step 76, the processor checks whether there are fewer than a predefined number of data points left in each sub-cube. If some sub-cubes still do not have fewer than the predefined number, the processor returns to step 74 to further divide these sub-cubes. The process is repeated until sub-cubes (which may be of different sizes) are formed and each of the sub-cubes contains fewer than the predefined number of data points. Steps 74 and 76 form a graph tree, such as graph tree 40 of FIG. 2, and processor 28 stores the graph tree in memory 33 in a store step 78.

[0048] Next, processor 28 selects a level of tree graph 40 in a level selection step 80 and analyzes all subcubes belonging to that level. Processor 28 then checks each subcube belonging to the selected level in a subcube check step 82 to determine whether it is completely surrounded by dense subcubes belonging to the selected level, i.e., by subcubes having less than a predetermined number of data points within each subcube. If the answer is yes, i.e., the checked subcube is inside a completely explored enclosing surface, processor 28 removes the data points within the subcube in a data omission step 84. Processor 28 further removes the analyzed subcube and the entire branch below the selected subcube from tree graph 40 (i.e., removes all lower levels) in an update tree graph step 85.

[0049] On the other hand, if the subcube is not completely enclosed, processor 28 checks whether there is a lower level to analyze that has a subcube smaller than the selected subcube, in a lower level check step 86. If the answer is yes, processor 28 selects to analyze all subcubes below the first analyzed subcube, in a lower level selection step 88. The process then returns to step 82 to complete the analysis.

[0050] After the subcubes have been analyzed and only the lowest level subcubes that are not completely enclosed remain, process 28 records (e.g., stores in memory 33) the data points contained in each such subcube in a subcube recording step 90.

[0051] Finally, the processor, in an envelope modeling step 92, generates (e.g., constructs) a continuous model of the anatomical envelope of the heart using all the stored data points and presents the constructed envelope to the user.

[0052] The exemplary flow diagram shown in Figure 3 is chosen solely for the purposes of conceptual clarity, and in optional exemplary embodiments, various additional steps may be performed, such as, for example, interpolation.

[0053] Figure 4 is a schematic, pictorial volume rendering of an anatomical map 90 including a surface 92 encircling the left atrium, generated by the method described in Figure 3, according to an embodiment of the present invention. As can be seen, the encircling surface 92 having a width 93 is constructed by the data points contained in the mathematical combination of sub-cubes 94 and 95 (illustrated as squares for simplicity). Sub-cubes 94 and 95 are lower level outer sub-cubes from different branches of the tree graph 40, and thus contain data points 96 of the point cloud remaining after the data points of the inner cubes have been omitted in the process described in Figures 2 and 3.

[0054] The illustrated enclosing surface 92 describes the left atrium as desired, but the shape of the enclosing surface may be improved by the processor forming a curve 98 (actually a surface) by connecting adjacent data points 96 using, for example, a weighting or moment method based interpolation. Alternatively, a best fit minimum rectangle method may be used to generate the curve 98 from the data points 96.

[0055] It will be understood that the above described embodiments are given by way of example, and the present invention is not limited to what is specifically shown and described herein above. Rather, the scope of the present invention includes both combinations and subcombinations of the various features described in the above specification, as well as variations and modifications thereof that would occur to a person skilled in the art upon reading the foregoing description, and that are not disclosed in the prior art. Documents incorporated by reference into this patent application shall be considered as part of this application, except that if any term is defined in these incorporated documents in a manner that is inconsistent with the definition expressly or impliedly given herein, then only the definition in this specification shall be considered.

[0056] [Embodiment] (1) A method for determining an enclosing surface of a cavity of an organ of a patient, the method comprising: receiving a plurality of data points each including a respective position measurement within the cavity; performing a first iterative process of progressively dividing the subvolume into smaller subvolumes until the density of the data points in each subvolume falls below a predetermined density; performing a second iterative process of progressively discarding sub-volumes that are completely surrounded by dense sub-volumes and discarding the data points contained within the discarded sub-volumes; defining the enclosing surface of the cavity based on the data points remaining after the second iteration; and presenting the enclosing surface of the cavity to a user. (2) The method of embodiment 1, wherein performing the first iterative process includes constructing a tree graph having multiple levels, in which vertices represent the sub-volumes and children of vertices represent the sub-volumes into which the volume represented by the vertices is divided. (3) The method of embodiment 2, wherein performing the second iterative process includes traversing the vertices of the tree graph starting from a selected level, and discarding the traversed vertex and the children of the traversed vertex from the tree graph if a sub-volume corresponding to the traversed vertex is found to be surrounded by a dense sub-volume. (4) The method of claim 3, wherein the selected level is determined according to a required resolution of the enclosing surface. (5) The method of claim 1, wherein defining the enclosing surface includes interpolating or connecting the remaining data points.

[0057] (6) The method of embodiment 1, wherein presenting the encircling surface includes overlaying electrophysiological measurements on the encircling surface. (7) The method of claim 1, wherein the sub-volume comprises a cube. (8) The method of claim 1, wherein the subvolume comprises a tetrahedron. (9) A system configured to determine an enclosing surface of a cavity of an organ of a patient, the system comprising: an interface configured to receive a plurality of data points comprising respective position measurements within the cavity; and a processor, the processor comprising: performing a first iterative process of progressively dividing the subvolume into smaller subvolumes until the density of the data points in each subvolume falls below a predetermined density; performing a second iterative process of progressively discarding sub-volumes that are completely surrounded by dense sub-volumes and discarding the data points contained within the discarded sub-volumes; defining the enclosing surface of the cavity based on the data points remaining after the second iteration; and presenting the enclosing surface of the cavity to a user. (10) The system of embodiment 9, wherein the processor is configured to perform the first iterative process by constructing a tree graph having multiple levels, in which vertices represent the sub-volumes and children of vertices represent the sub-volumes into which the volume represented by the vertices is divided.

[0058] (11) The system of embodiment 10, wherein the processor is configured to perform the second iteration by traversing the vertices of the tree graph starting from a selected level and, if a subvolume corresponding to a traversed vertex is found to be surrounded by a dense subvolume, discarding the traversed vertex and the children of the traversed vertex from the tree graph. (12) The system of claim 11, wherein the processor is configured to select the level according to a required resolution of the enclosing surface. (13) The system of claim 9, wherein the processor is configured to define the enclosing surface by interpolating or connecting the remaining data points. (14) The system of embodiment 9, wherein the processor is configured to present the encircling surface by overlaying electrophysiological measurements on the encircling surface. (15) The system of embodiment 9, wherein the sub-volume comprises a cube.

[0059] (16) The system of embodiment 9, wherein the subvolume comprises a tetrahedron.

Claims

1. 1. A method for determining an enclosing surface of a cavity of an organ of a patient, the method comprising: receiving a plurality of data points each including a respective position measurement within the cavity; performing a first iterative process of progressively dividing the subvolume into smaller subvolumes until the density of the data points in each subvolume falls below a predetermined density; performing a second iterative process of progressively discarding sub-volumes that are completely surrounded by dense sub-volumes and discarding the data points contained within the discarded sub-volumes; defining the enclosing surface of the cavity based on the data points remaining after the second iteration; and presenting the enclosing surface of the cavity to a user.

2. 2. The method of claim 1 , wherein performing the first iterative process includes constructing a tree graph having multiple levels, in which vertices represent the sub-volumes and children of vertices represent the sub-volumes into which a volume represented by the vertices is divided.

3. 3. The method of claim 2, wherein performing the second iteration comprises: traversing the vertices of the tree graph starting from a selected level; and discarding the traversed vertex and the children of the traversed vertex from the tree graph if a sub-volume corresponding to the traversed vertex is found to be surrounded by a dense sub-volume.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the selected level is determined according to a required resolution of the enclosing surface.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein defining the enclosing surface comprises interpolating or connecting the remaining data points.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein presenting the encircling surface includes overlaying electrophysiological measurements on the encircling surface.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sub-volume comprises a cube.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sub-volume comprises a tetrahedron.

9. 1. A system configured to determine an enclosing surface of a cavity of an organ of a patient, the system comprising: an interface configured to receive a plurality of data points comprising respective position measurements within the cavity; and a processor, the processor comprising: performing a first iterative process of progressively dividing the subvolume into smaller subvolumes until the density of the data points in each subvolume falls below a predetermined density; performing a second iterative process of progressively discarding sub-volumes that are completely surrounded by dense sub-volumes and discarding the data points contained within the discarded sub-volumes; defining the enclosing surface of the cavity based on the data points remaining after the second iteration; and presenting the enclosing surface of the cavity to a user.

10. 10. The system of claim 9, wherein the processor is configured to perform the first iteration by constructing a tree graph having multiple levels, in which vertices represent the sub-volumes and children of vertices represent the sub-volumes into which a volume represented by the vertices is divided.

11. 11. The system of claim 10, wherein the processor is configured to perform the second iteration by traversing the vertices of the tree graph starting from a selected level and discarding the traversed vertex and the children of the traversed vertex from the tree graph if a sub-volume corresponding to the traversed vertex is found to be surrounded by a dense sub-volume.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the processor is configured to select the level according to a required resolution of the enclosing surface.

13. The system of claim 9 , wherein the processor is configured to define the enclosing surface by interpolating or connecting the remaining data points.

14. The system of claim 9 , wherein the processor is configured to present the encircling surface by overlaying electrophysiological measurements onto the encircling surface.

15. The system of claim 9 , wherein the sub-volume comprises a cube.

16. The system of claim 9 , wherein the sub-volume comprises a tetrahedron.

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