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AssigneeThe University of British Columbia
InventorsSeptimiu SALCUDEAN, Michael Chak Luen Yip, Troy Kiefert Adebar, Robert Nicholas Rohling
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The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for registering three-dimensional ultrasound images to an external coordinate system, such as the coordinate system attached to a camera-based imaging system or the coordinate system used to define the movements of a surgical robot. The apparatus generally comprises a tool with markers that can be accurately and repeatably located in both the ultrasound and external coordinate systems. In the case of the surgical robot frame, this tool may be a component of the surgical robot itself, such as a portion of a surgical manipulator. The method generally comprises positioning the toot upon the surface of a portion of patient tissue, imaging the tool using the ultrasound, simultaneously imaging the tool using the camera system or monitoring the current mechanical configuration of the surgical robot, localizing corresponding tool elements in both frames, and finally using the corresponding elements as registration fiducials to solve the geometric transformation that relates the two frames.
A method for registering an ultrasound imaging system to an external coordinate system, comprising creating ultrasound image features on a tissue surface, and determining the feature positions with respect to both the ultrasound imaging system and the external coordinate system.
A method for registering an endorectal ultrasound imaging system to a laparoscopic camera coordinate system, comprising creating ultrasound image features on a tissue surface anterior to the prostate, and determining the feature positions with respect to both the endorectal ultrasound imaging system and the laparoscopic camera coordinate system.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.