Steerable Catheter Imaging Registration for Lung Navigation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current medical devices and procedures for image-guided lung procedures face challenges in accurately visualizing, accessing, and confirming the location of target tissues, especially in the peripheral lungs, due to limitations in existing navigation systems and the movement of lung tissues during respiration.
Innovation Solution
A navigation system that includes a localization device, a display, and a pre-acquired image dataset of the patient's airway, allowing for the tracking of medical devices and the generation of real-time images to confirm the location of target tissues using a steerable catheter and percutaneous needles, while also correcting for image distortion and utilizing a hybrid 'Inspiration-Expiration' 3D airway model to account for respiratory motion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a navigation system is used to track medical devices in real-time, then the ability to locate target tissue is improved, but the complexity of the device increases
Solution Approach 1:
The imaging device is nested within the steerable catheter, allowing the catheter to serve as both a delivery mechanism and a positioning platform for the imaging device. This nested configuration enables real-time imaging capability within the navigation system without requiring separate independent systems, thus improving location confirmation while managing device complexity through integrated design
Solution Approach 2:
The steerable catheter is designed to perform multiple functions: it serves as a navigation vehicle, holds the imaging device, and provides a pathway for tissue sampling. This multi-functionality reduces the need for multiple separate devices, improving measurement precision through integrated real-time tracking while avoiding the complexity of coordinating multiple independent systems
2Loss of information
If real-time imaging is used to visualize target tissue, then the ability to confirm location is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The imaging device is positioned within the working channel of the steerable catheter, allowing it to be delivered through the airway to the target location. This nested arrangement enables real-time imaging at the precise location of interest without requiring external imaging equipment, thus reducing information loss about target tissue while managing the complexity of imaging system integration
Solution Approach 2:
The steerable catheter acts as an intermediary platform that delivers and positions the imaging device within the airway. This intermediary role allows the imaging device to be precisely positioned at the target tissue location, improving visualization capability while the catheter's flexible design manages the complexity of navigating and positioning the imaging system
3Ease of operation
If a steerable catheter is used to reach peripheral lung areas, then accessibility to target tissue is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The steerable catheter incorporates dynamic bending capabilities through its construction with multiple flexible segments or a flexible shaft with control mechanisms. This dynamic design allows the catheter to navigate tortuous airway paths and reach peripheral lung areas that rigid catheters cannot access, improving ease of operation for accessing difficult-to-reach target tissues while the flexible construction manages the complexity of the steering mechanism
Solution Approach 2:
The catheter is divided into multiple segments or sections that can be independently controlled or that flex relative to each other. This segmentation allows the catheter to follow the complex geometry of the airway tree and reach peripheral lung regions, improving accessibility to target tissue while the modular segmented design manages the complexity of the steerable mechanism
Data Source
AI summary
A method of registering a real-time image feed from an imaging device inserted into a steerable catheter using a navigation system is provided. The method includes inserting the imaging device into a working channel of the steerable catheter and generating a real-time image feed of one or more reference points, wherein the orientation of the reference points is known. The method further includes orienting a handle of the steerable catheter to a neutral position, displaying the real-time image feed on a display of the navigation system, and registering the real-time image feed to the steerable catheter by rotating the displayed image so that the reference points in the real-time image feed are matched to the known orientation of the reference points.