Surgical Display Overlay Tools for Better Tissue Visualization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional medical imaging devices in minimally invasive surgeries face challenges such as limited imaging resolution, poor visibility, and restricted viewing angles, which hinder effective visualization of biological tissues and tissue differentiation due to lighting constraints.
Innovation Solution
A medical software tools platform that integrates a surgical display with medical software tools, including a user interface overlay module, image stream processing, and medical device communication, to enhance image processing and provide tools like image tagging, measurement, and anatomical structure identification, facilitating improved visualization and collaboration in surgical environments.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If conventional medical imaging devices are used in minimally invasive surgeries, then the surgical procedure can be performed with smaller incisions, but the imaging resolution and tissue differentiation capability are limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple imaging modalities (optical imaging, ultrasound, MRI, CT) into a single integrated medical imaging device. This merging allows the device to provide high-resolution imaging capabilities across multiple modalities while maintaining the minimally invasive approach through a single access point or coordinated small incisions.
Solution Approach 2:
The imaging device is designed with multi-functional capabilities, incorporating various imaging technologies (optical, ultrasound, MRI, CT) within a single system. This universality enables the device to perform multiple imaging functions simultaneously or sequentially, providing comprehensive tissue differentiation and high-resolution imaging without requiring multiple separate devices or larger incisions.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If conventional medical imaging devices are used, then the surgical access can be minimized, but the viewing angle and visibility are restricted
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple imaging modalities including optical imaging with wide viewing angles, ultrasound for depth penetration, and other imaging technologies into a single integrated system. This combination compensates for the limited viewing angle of individual modalities by providing complementary perspectives and imaging capabilities through coordinated small surgical accesses.
Solution Approach 2:
The integrated imaging device incorporates multi-dimensional imaging capabilities by combining 2D optical imaging, 3D ultrasound, and volumetric MRI/CT data. This dimensional enhancement allows surgeons to visualize tissue structures from multiple angles and depths simultaneously, overcoming the restricted viewing angle constraint through virtual multi-perspective visualization.
3Illumination intensity
If conventional imaging devices are used under visible lighting constraints, then the surgical procedure can proceed with standard lighting, but tissue differentiation capability is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The imaging device incorporates multiple imaging modalities that operate under different physical principles beyond visible lighting. Ultrasound imaging uses acoustic waves, MRI uses magnetic fields and radio waves, and CT uses X-rays, allowing tissue differentiation based on various tissue properties rather than just optical reflectance. This multi-functionality enables accurate tissue differentiation independent of visible lighting constraints.
Solution Approach 2:
The device changes the imaging parameter from visible light to multiple other physical parameters including acoustic frequency (ultrasound), magnetic field strength (MRI), and X-ray energy (CT). These parameter changes enable tissue differentiation based on acoustic impedance, magnetic susceptibility, and radiodensity respectively, providing superior tissue contrast and differentiation capability that is not limited by visible lighting conditions.
Data Source
AI summary
Medical software tools platform utilizes a surgical display to provide access to specific medical software tools, such as medically oriented applications or widgets, that can assist those in the operating room, such as a surgeon or surgical team, with a surgery. For various embodiments, the medical software tools platform and its associated medical software tools are presented on a surgical display (e.g., being utilized in an operating room) over an image stream provided by a surgical camera (e.g., in use in the operating room or with other endoscopic procedures). Various medical software tools can provide features and functions that can facilitate integration of equipment in an operating room or add medical context awareness to anatomic structures presented in the image stream from the surgical camera and provide archived information pertaining to the same.