Specimen Orientation System for Imaging Apparatus
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current imaging techniques struggle to accurately orient tissue specimens relative to the patient's body, making it difficult for medical professionals to communicate and analyze specimen images effectively.
Innovation Solution
The system automatically imparts graphical orientation indications into images of tissue specimens, aligning with corresponding anatomical portions of the patient's body, using indicators on a rotatable platform to ensure accurate specimen positioning and orientation during imaging.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If markers are used to position and orient the specimen image relative to mammography image, then orientation information can be conveyed, but it is very difficult to accurately position and orient the specimen due to different perspectives of mammography images and specimen images
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by automatically capturing the specimen's orientation data during the imaging process itself, before any manual marking or positioning attempts. The orientation indicators are generated and embedded in the image data stream, establishing the spatial relationship between specimen and patient anatomy in advance, which eliminates the need for difficult post-capture positioning and marking operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the manual mechanical process of physically positioning and marking specimens with automated computational methods. The system uses image processing algorithms to automatically determine specimen orientation relative to the patient's body, substituting complex manual positioning operations with automated digital analysis that calculates orientation indicators based on the imaging geometry and specimen placement data.
2Loss of information
If clips or ink are applied to indicate specific orientation for pathology, then orientation information is provided, but it is time consuming and may be only relevant to a person familiar with the same system of marking
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs self-service by automatically generating and embedding orientation indicators in the specimen images without requiring manual intervention. The imaging system itself captures the orientation data, processes it through algorithms that understand the imaging geometry, and embeds the resulting orientation indicators directly into the image files, making the system self-sufficient and eliminating time-consuming manual marking operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a digital copy of the orientation information that is embedded within the image data itself. Rather than using physical markers on the specimen, the system generates digital orientation indicators that are copied into the image file, preserving the spatial relationship information in a format that can be universally interpreted by any system that understands the indicator convention, eliminating the need for physical marking and reducing time consumption.
3Reliability
If multiple views are taken to confirm tissue margins, then confidence in tissue margin sufficiency is improved, but the number of tissue excisions may increase if suspicious tissue is too close to edges
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements feedback by providing real-time orientation indicators in the specimen images that show the spatial relationship between the specimen and the original tumor location in the patient's body. This immediate visual feedback allows surgeons to assess whether suspicious tissue is close to the excision margins and make informed decisions about whether additional excision is needed, reducing the need for multiple re-excisions while maintaining high confidence in margin sufficiency.
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 and clarity of specimen orientation in images, facilitating better communication and analysis among surgeons, radiologists, and pathologists, thereby improving diagnostic precision and reducing the need for additional tissue excisions.
Implementation Method 1
a source of electromagnetic radiation positioned relative to the housing; a rotatable platform disposed within the interior chamber and rotatable about a rotation axis... trigger the source of electromagnetic radiation to generate a beam of electromagnetic radiation and send the beam through the specimen for receipt at the imaging detector
Data Source
AI summary
A method of generating images of a specimen that includes triggering a source of electromagnetic radiation to emit a beam of electromagnetic radiation along an axis through a tissue specimen and towards an imaging detector, generating at least one image with the received beam at the imaging detector, and superimposing, into or adjacent the at least one image by a system controller, a set of graphical indications that convey portions of a patient's body from which respective portions of the specimen were assumed to have been excised.