Medical Image Processing Virtual Probe for 2D-3D Spatial Correlation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current medical image processing systems struggle to accurately correlate changes in two-dimensional images with their corresponding positions and directions in three-dimensional images during operations, making it difficult for users to understand the precise location and orientation of anatomical structures, especially during pre-operative planning and ultrasound procedures.
Innovation Solution
A medical image processing apparatus that acquires volume data, renders three-dimensional images, and displays both two-dimensional and three-dimensional images with a virtual probe that moves along the body surface, allowing users to update the display based on operations such as slice paging, panning, and rotation, thereby maintaining a consistent correlation between the two image types.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a user operates a two-dimensional image to update display while remembering an ultrasound image, then the display is updated efficiently, but it becomes difficult to ascertain to which position and direction the changed two-dimensional image corresponds in a three-dimensional image
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a virtual ultrasound probe as an intermediary object that visually connects the 2D image operations to their 3D spatial correspondence. The probe is displayed on both the 2D image display area and the 3D image display area, serving as a mediator that maintains spatial correlation information while allowing efficient 2D display updates.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent adds a visual dimension by displaying the virtual probe in 3D space alongside the 2D image operations. This allows users to perceive the spatial relationship between 2D image changes and 3D anatomical structures through the probe's position and orientation in the third dimension.
2Loss of information
If a virtual ultrasound probe is displayed to show position and direction in a three-dimensional image, then spatial correlation is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a virtual copy of the ultrasound probe that can be displayed in 3D space without requiring complex physical manipulation. This virtual probe copy maintains the necessary spatial information while simplifying the overall system complexity by using software-based representation rather than complex hardware mechanisms.
3Measurement precision
If the virtual probe moves along the body surface during image updates, then diagnostic accuracy is improved, but the computational requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary calculations to determine the probe's movement path along the body surface before executing the full image update. By pre-calculating the trajectory and key positions, the system reduces computational energy requirements during real-time interaction while maintaining diagnostic accuracy.
Data Source
AI summary
A medical image processing apparatus includes an acquisition unit and a processing unit. The acquisition unit acquires volume data of a subject. The processing unit displays a three-dimensional image by rendering the acquired volume data, on a display unit. The processing unit displays a first object showing (i) a point on a body surface of the subject and (ii) a direction to the volume data in the three-dimensional image, and displays a two-dimensional image of a surface including the point on the body surface and being defined based on the direction, in the volume data. The processing unit acquires information of a first operation to change display of the two-dimensional image, and moves the point on the body surface along the body surface of the subject based on the first operation to update display of the first object and the two-dimensional image.