Virtual Endoscopic Camera Pathing for Stable 3D Instrument Views
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing image-guided surgery systems face challenges in visualizing medical instruments within narrow body passages, such as nasal sinuses, due to the limitations of rigid endoscopes and the difficulty in registering different imaging modalities, leading to unstable and choppy video views.
Innovation Solution
A system that generates virtual endoscopic views using multiple virtual cameras positioned along a computed 3D path within the body, registered with a CT image, to provide stable and continuous visualization of medical instruments moving through narrow passages.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If rigid endoscopes are used to visualize medical instruments within narrow body passages, then real-time visualization is achieved, but the video views become unstable and choppy
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates virtual copies of endoscopic views by rendering images from virtual camera positions within the 3D CT model. These virtual endoscopic images are generated by projecting 3D model surfaces onto 2D planes from camera positions that follow the medical instrument's path, providing stable visualization without the mechanical instability of rigid endoscopes
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical rigid endoscope system with a computational imaging system. Instead of using physical cameras mounted on rigid endoscopes, the system uses virtual cameras that track the medical instrument's position and orientation, rendering images computationally from the 3D CT model to achieve stable video views
2Measurement precision
If multiple imaging modalities are registered to track medical instruments, then real-time positioning is achieved, but registration stability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the CT imaging data with the medical instrument tracking system into a unified 3D model. The virtual camera positions and orientations are derived from the registered instrument coordinates within the common 3D space, allowing accurate instrument positioning while maintaining registration stability through integrated coordinate transformation
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a virtual camera system as an intermediary between the medical instrument tracking and the endoscopic visualization. The virtual cameras are positioned and oriented based on the registered instrument coordinates, serving as a mediator that translates tracking data into stable virtual endoscopic views without direct reliance on complex multi-modality registration
3Reliability
If virtual cameras are used to generate endoscopic images from 3D CT models, then video stability is improved, but computational complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the complex rendering task by dividing it into discrete steps: (1) defining virtual camera positions and orientations based on instrument tracking, (2) projecting 3D model surfaces onto 2D image planes from camera positions, (3) rendering images with appropriate lighting and shading, and (4) composing final endoscopic views. This segmentation makes the computational process more manageable and efficient
Data Source
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AI summary
In one embodiment, an apparatus includes a medical instrument, a position tracking system to track coordinates of the instrument within a passage in a body, a processor to register the system and a 3D CT image of at least a part of the body, find a path of the instrument through the passage, compute segments of the path, compute respective locations along the path of respective virtual cameras responsively to the computed segments, select the respective virtual cameras for rendering respective virtual endoscopic images responsively to the tracked coordinates, compute respective orientations of the respective virtual cameras, and render and display the respective virtual endoscopic images, based on the 3D CT image, of the passage in the body viewed from the respective locations and orientations of the respective virtual cameras including an animated representation of the instrument positioned in the respective virtual endoscopic images in accordance with the tracked coordinates..