Robotic 5-dimensional ultrasound
AssigneeThe Johns Hopkins University
InventorsEmad M. Boctor, Michael Choti, Gabor Fichtinger, Russell Taylor, Jerry L. Prince
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A robotic 5D ultrasound system and method, for use in a computer integrated surgical system, wherein 3D ultrasonic image data is integrated over time with strain (i.e., elasticity) image data. By integrating the ultrasound image data and the strain image data, the present invention is capable of accurately identifying a target tissue in surrounding tissue; segmenting, monitoring and tracking the target tissue during the surgical procedure; and facilitating proper planning and execution of the surgical procedure, even where the surgical environment is noisy and the target tissue is isoechoic.
Claims26
A computer integrated surgical system comprising:
- an ultrasound imaging system;
- and
- a workstation configured for receiving ultrasound signals from the ultrasound imaging system, said workstation including:
- an elasticity imaging module configured for deriving elasticity related parameters relating to target tissue,
- an ultrasound module configured for providing ultrasound image data reflecting the anatomical structure of the target tissue, and
- a volume rendering module configured for integrating the strain distribution information and the ultrasound image data and generating a visualization of the target tissue based on both the strain distribution data and the ultrasound image data.
A workstation for use in a computer integrated surgical system, said workstation comprising:
- a strain imaging module configured for deriving strain distribution information relating to target tissue,
- an ultrasound module configured for providing ultrasound image data reflecting the anatomical structure of the target tissue, and
- a volume rendering module configured for integrating the strain distribution information and the ultrasound image data and generating a visualization of the target tissue based on both the strain distribution data and the ultrasound image data.
Method for rendering an ultrasonic image comprising the steps of:
- acquiring ultrasound image data of a target tissue;
- acquiring strain image data of the target tissue;
- integrating the ultrasound image data and the strain image data;
- and
- generating a visualization of the target tissue based on both the ultrasound image data and the strain image data.
A method of generating segmentation data using ultrasound image data in a medical procedure comprising the steps of:
- acquiring ultrasound image data of a target tissue;
- acquiring strain image data of the target tissue;
- generating a model from the strain image;
- utilizing the model as an input to a model based segmentation process;
- and generating segmentation data associated with the target tissue based on the strain image data.
A method of registering online ultrasound data to preoperative non-ultrasound data comprising the steps of:
- combining tissue/organ boundaries from 3D ultrasound image data;
- augmenting elasticity to generate a pseudo, non-ultrasound data that can be used to register with preoperative, non-ultrasound data;
- utilizing a strain component as a landmark to automate a first initial matching registration;
- utilizing anatomy data to fine-tune the registration;
- and
- incorporating anatomy information and elasticity in a registration metric.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.