Fetal Intelligent Navigation Echocardiography for Standardized View Extraction
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Solution Overview
Problem
The prenatal diagnosis of congenital heart disease is challenging due to the complex anatomy of the fetal heart, its small size, motion, and the skills and experience required for accurate diagnosis. Current cardiac examinations are often incomplete and inadequate, failing to obtain all necessary cardiac planes for a comprehensive evaluation.
Innovation Solution
The Fetal Intelligent Navigation Echocardiography (FINE) method and apparatus utilize intelligent navigation technology to visualize standard fetal echocardiography views from dataset volumes obtained with spatiotemporal image correlation (STIC). This method automatically generates nine fetal cardiac diagnostic planes and provides Virtual Intelligent Sonographer Assistance (VIS-Assistance) for spontaneous navigation around each plane.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If manual examination of fetal heart is performed by operator, then diagnostic accuracy depends on operator skill and experience, but examination completeness is poor and operator dependency is high
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs self-service by automatically extracting and displaying standard cardiac diagnostic planes from the volume dataset without requiring manual operator intervention. The computer system autonomously identifies anatomical structures and generates the nine standard fetal echocardiography views, eliminating operator dependency while maintaining diagnostic accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical/manual system of operator-based plane extraction with an automated computer-based system. The computer system uses algorithms to automatically navigate through the volume dataset, identify cardiac structures, and generate diagnostic planes, substituting human manual operations with automated computational processes.
2Reliability
If comprehensive cardiac planes are obtained manually, then complete fetal heart evaluation is achieved, but examination time increases and productivity decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary action by pre-acquiring a complete volume dataset of the fetal heart using STIC technology before the diagnostic examination. This volume dataset contains all possible cardiac planes in advance, allowing the computer system to rapidly extract any required diagnostic view without time-consuming manual searching during the actual examination.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the slow manual process of obtaining each cardiac plane sequentially with automated computer-based extraction. The computer system simultaneously processes the volume dataset to generate all nine standard diagnostic planes, dramatically reducing examination time while maintaining complete evaluation of fetal heart structures.
3Loss of information
If all cardiac planes are extracted from volume dataset, then complete diagnostic information is obtained, but device complexity and processing requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies extraction by selectively extracting only the nine standard fetal echocardiography diagnostic planes from the comprehensive volume dataset. Rather than processing or displaying all possible planes, the computer system identifies and extracts specifically the clinically relevant views needed for diagnosis, reducing information overload while maintaining diagnostic completeness.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies segmentation by dividing the comprehensive volume dataset into distinct, standardized diagnostic planes. The computer system segments the three-dimensional volume data into nine specific two-dimensional cardiac views (four-chamber, five-chamber, outflow tracts, great vessels, etc.), making the complex information organized and clinically usable.
4Ease of operation
If standard fetal echocardiography views are automatically generated, then operator skill requirement is reduced, but automation extent and algorithm complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses an intermediary approach by providing Virtual Intelligent Sonographer Assistance (VIS-Assistance) that guides the operator through the marking process. The computer system acts as an intelligent intermediary, offering real-time suggestions for anatomical structure locations and confirming markings, thereby reducing the skill barrier while maintaining reasonable automation levels.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs self-service by automatically generating all nine standard fetal echocardiography diagnostic planes from the volume dataset without requiring sophisticated operator skills. The computer algorithms autonomously navigate the three-dimensional data, identify cardiac structures, and produce standardized diagnostic views, making the process accessible to operators with varying levels of expertise.
Data Source
AI summary
A method and apparatus of examining fetal hearts includes obtaining ultrasound data of a fetal heart to generate fetal heart images, displaying different marked sample images of a fetal heart and at respective cardiac phases, each marking a different feature of a fetal heart at a respective marked location, and sequentially presenting one of the different marked sample images to a user along with one of the fetal heart images that is a similar view. As each of the different marked sample images is sequentially presented, a user is prompted to mark the different feature in a respective fetal heart image based on its marked location to create a plurality of marked fetal heart images, and a geometric model of the heart is generated based on the marked fetal heart images, from which fetal echocardiography views can be extracted. The fetal echocardiography views of the fetal heart are displayed.