Camera-Guided Catheter Navigation with 3D Visualization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current medical procedures face challenges in accurately navigating medical devices to target areas within the body, especially when real-time imaging and visual guidance are required to prevent damage to surrounding tissues and ensure accurate biopsy samples.
Innovation Solution
A system comprising a catheter with a camera, a biopsy tool, and a workstation that processes images to identify coordinates, generate 3D renderings, and provide real-time visual guidance for the biopsy tool, allowing for accurate alignment and sampling of target tissues.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a catheter with camera is removed from the extended working channel to advance a biopsy tool, then the biopsy tool can be advanced to the target area, but visual guidance is lost and the position of the extended working channel may shift relative to the target
Solution Approach 1:
The system creates a virtual copy of the visual scene by capturing images with the catheter camera before removal, processing these images to generate a 3D representation of the target area, and displaying this virtual model on a screen. This virtual copy preserves the spatial information and visual guidance even after the physical catheter is removed, allowing the biopsy tool to be advanced with continued visual reference to the target location.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces an intermediary computational system that includes an image processor and display device. This intermediary captures the visual information from the catheter camera, processes it into a 3D representation, and presents it to the operator. This intermediary maintains the visual guidance function independently of the physical catheter's presence in the extended working channel.
2Measurement precision
If real-time images are captured and processed to provide visual guidance, then alignment accuracy is improved, but system complexity and image processing time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by capturing multiple images with the catheter camera before the catheter is removed from the extended working channel. These images are processed in advance to generate the 3D representation of the target area. By completing the image capture and processing beforehand, the system reduces the need for complex real-time processing during the critical biopsy advancement phase, thereby managing system complexity while maintaining alignment accuracy.
Data Source
AI summary
A system for performing a surgical procedure includes a catheter with a camera configured to capture images of a patient's anatomy, a biopsy tool, and a workstation operably coupled to the catheter and the biopsy tool, the workstation including a memory and a processor, the memory storing instructions, which when executed by the processor cause the processor to receive a plurality of images captured by the camera at a plurality of locations in a patient's anatomy, identify coordinates of the catheter at each respective location at which each received image of the plurality of images was captured, identify coordinates of the biopsy tool within the patient's anatomy, identify an image of the plurality of received images having coordinates corresponding to the identified coordinates of the biopsy tool, and display the identified image on a user interface.