IVUS and OCT Image Alignment Using Intermediary Marker
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing imaging apparatuses with combined IVUS and OCT functions face challenges in aligning ultrasound and optical tomographic images in the same orientation due to distance and installation precision issues between transceivers, leading to partial image shifts.
Innovation Solution
The apparatus employs a program and imaging system that aligns ultrasound and optical tomographic images by interpolating and rotating line data before image creation, using a signal processing unit to adjust optical path lengths and align images based on shared features like blood vessel shapes or markers, ensuring both images are created in the same orientation and position.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the ultrasound transceiver and optical transceiver are installed at different positions in the catheter, then both IVUS and OCT imaging functions can be achieved, but the tomographic images obtained from both functions cannot be arranged in the same orientation due to distance and installation precision issues
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a marker as an intermediary reference object that both ultrasound and optical systems can detect. This marker serves as a common reference point to establish the spatial relationship between the two transceivers, enabling accurate alignment of their respective tomographic images without requiring extremely precise installation of the transceivers themselves.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces mechanical alignment methods (physical adjustment of transceiver positions and angles) with computational methods. By detecting the marker's position and orientation using both ultrasound and optical signals, the system calculates the spatial relationship between transceivers and applies image processing algorithms to align the tomographic images, substituting mechanical precision requirements with computational correction.
2Manufacturing precision
If the ultrasound transceiver and optical transceiver are positioned close to each other, then image alignment becomes easier, but the distance between transceivers cannot be sufficiently large to accommodate both functions effectively
Solution Approach 1:
The marker acts as an intermediary that decouples the spatial separation between transceivers from the alignment precision requirement. Even when transceivers are far apart, the marker provides a common reference that enables the system to calculate and correct for the spatial offset, allowing effective imaging regardless of the distance between transceivers.
3Manufacturing precision
If manual rotation and alignment of images is performed, then image orientation can be adjusted, but the process is time-consuming and reduces diagnostic efficiency
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces manual mechanical rotation and alignment operations with automated computational image processing. The system automatically detects the marker's position in both ultrasound and optical images, calculates the required transformation parameters, and applies alignment corrections through software algorithms, eliminating the need for time-consuming manual adjustment while achieving precise alignment.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses the detected marker position as feedback to automatically adjust and align the images. By continuously monitoring the marker's location in both imaging modalities and using this information to correct alignment errors, the system achieves automatic alignment without manual intervention, significantly reducing processing time while maintaining high precision.
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 approach allows for more accurate and efficient alignment of IVUS and OCT images, reducing the need for post-processing rotation and improving diagnostic accuracy by ensuring both images are aligned in the same orientation and position.
Implementation Method 1
an ultrasound transceiver capable of transmitting or receiving an ultrasound wave
Implementation Method 2
an optical transceiver capable of transmitting or receiving light
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention allows an ultrasound tomographic image and an optical interference tomographic image to be created in the same position and in the same orientation with high efficiency and accuracy. For this purpose, in an imaging apparatus for diagnosis, ultrasound line data and optical interference line data oriented in a radial direction from a rotation center on the basis of a signal obtained by executing scanning are accumulated in a memory. In addition, a temporary offset line number representing a relative deviation of the ultrasound line data corresponding to the optical interference line data accumulated in the memory is calculated on the basis of a distance between an ultrasound transceiver and an optical transceiver, and a rotation velocity and a movement velocity of the imaging core during the scanning. In addition, a search start position for each of the optical interference line data and the ultrasound line data is determined on the basis of the temporary offset line number, and the search starts from the search start position to search each line data having a predetermined feature. A relative deviation of the ultrasound line data corresponding to the searched optical interference line data is calculated as a true offset line number. Then, the optical coherence cross-sectional image and the ultrasound cross-sectional image are created by relatively shifting the ultrasound line data with respect to the optical interference line data by the true offset line number and reading them.