Medical Image Processing Apparatus Motion Correction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current medical image processing technologies face challenges in generating high-quality road map images for TAVI procedures, as they struggle to accurately display blood vessels and maintain image quality due to the movement of the heart and aorta during X-ray imaging, leading to blurred or unclear images.
Innovation Solution
A medical image processing apparatus and method that includes an X-ray image obtaining unit, marker detection unit, and display image generation unit, which corrects for marker movement by detecting positions of markers attached to devices and performing motion correction between X-ray contrast and fluoroscopic images, enabling the generation of sharp and uniform road map images.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If X-ray contrast images and fluoroscopic images are combined to generate road map images, then blood vessels can be visualized to support TAVI procedures, but image quality deteriorates due to heart and aorta movement causing blurs and misalignment
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces markers as intermediary objects attached to the aorta and heart. These markers serve as mediators between the moving organs and the imaging system, providing stable reference points for alignment. The markers are detected in both contrast images and fluoroscopic images, enabling accurate registration despite organ movement, thus resolving the contradiction between visualizing blood vessels and maintaining image alignment precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback by continuously detecting marker positions in real-time fluoroscopic images and using this information to dynamically adjust and update the road map image alignment. This closed-loop feedback mechanism compensates for ongoing heart and aorta movement, maintaining accurate image registration throughout the TAVI procedure while preserving blood vessel visibility.
2Manufacturing precision
If markers are attached to devices for motion correction, then image alignment can be maintained during organ movement, but device complexity increases due to additional marker detection and processing requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces complex mechanical tracking systems with a simpler optical/image-based marker detection system. Instead of using mechanical sensors or complex tracking hardware, the system uses standard X-ray imaging to detect markers, substituting mechanical complexity with optical processing that leverages existing imaging infrastructure while achieving precise alignment.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates a simplified digital copy of the physical situation by detecting marker positions in 2D images and using these coordinates for alignment calculations. This copying approach avoids the need for complex 3D spatial tracking systems, reducing device complexity while maintaining alignment accuracy through mathematical transformation of the detected marker positions.
Data Source
AI summary
According to one embodiment, a medical image processing apparatus includes an X-ray image obtaining unit, a marker detection unit, a contrast image generation unit and a display image generation unit. The X-ray image obtaining unit obtains X-ray contrast image data and X-ray fluoroscopic image data. The marker detection unit detects positions of a marker from the X-ray contrast image data, or the X-ray contrast image data and the X-ray fluoroscopic image data. The marker is attached to a device. The contrast image generation unit generates X-ray contrast image data for a combination with a movement correction making the positions of the marker be positions which can be regarded as a same position. The display image generation unit generates X-ray image data for a display by combining the X-ray contrast image data for the combination with the X-ray fluoroscopic image data.