CT Image Correction via Probe Sensor Registration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Medical images, such as computerized tomography images, can be compromised due to factors like incorrect scanner settings, patient movement, and dental work, leading to noise or clutter that hinders accurate navigation during invasive procedures.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that register the image coordinate system with the sensor coordinate system of a medical probe to identify and update voxels in a three-dimensional image, correcting density values to accurately represent open space, allowing for precise visualization of the probe's location within the body cavity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If a three-dimensional image is acquired from a computed tomography scanner, then the image provides structural information for navigation, but the image contains noise or clutter from incorrect settings, patient movement, and dental work that hinders accurate navigation
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary registration of the image coordinate system with the sensor coordinate system before the medical procedure begins. This pre-alignment allows the system to proactively identify and correct voxels that should represent open space but contain noise or clutter, thereby improving image quality before navigation commences.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses the medical probe with location sensor as an intermediary to identify regions in the image that should be open space. By comparing the probe's tracked position with the image data, the system can detect and correct noise or clutter in voxels along the probe's path, effectively using the probe as a mediator to identify and correct image quality issues.
2Measurement precision
If the coordinate systems are registered to enable superimposition, then the probe location can be visualized, but the density values may incorrectly represent open space as tissue due to image compromise
Solution Approach 1:
The system continuously monitors the density values of voxels along the probe's tracked path and compares them against expected values for open space. When discrepancies are detected (indicating noise or clutter), the system automatically corrects the density values. This feedback mechanism ensures that both probe location accuracy and voxel density accuracy are maintained despite image compromise.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary correction of density values for voxels that should represent open space but contain noise or clutter. By proactively identifying and correcting these voxels before they affect navigation decisions, the system ensures both accurate probe location visualization and reliable tissue characterization.
3Productivity
If the image is used for real-time guidance without correction, then the procedure can proceed quickly, but the compromised image reduces navigation precision and safety
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs correction of compromised voxels in advance during the registration phase, before the actual navigation procedure begins. This preliminary correction eliminates the need for time-consuming corrections during the procedure, thereby maintaining high procedure speed while ensuring navigation precision through pre-corrected image data.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution enhances the accuracy of medical image guidance by correcting compromised images, ensuring the distal tip of the medical probe is accurately represented as open space, thereby improving the precision and safety of invasive procedures.
Implementation Method 1
a location sensor and inserted into the body cavity, receiving, from the medical probe having a location sensor
Data Source
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Figure 1B
Figure 2
AI summary
Methods, apparatuses and computer program products implement embodiments of the present invention that include receiving, from an imaging system operating in an image coordinate system, a three-dimensional image of a body cavity including open space and body tissue, and receiving, from a medical probe having a location sensor and inserted into the body cavity, a signal indicating a location of a distal tip of the medical probe in a sensor coordinate system. The image coordinate system is registered with the sensor coordinate system so as to identify one or more voxels in the three-dimensional image at the indicated location, and when the identified voxels have density values in the received three-dimensional image that do not correspond to the open space, the density values of the identified voxels are updated to correspond to the open space.