Method and System for Pericardium Based Model Fusion of Pre-operative and Intra-operative Image Data for Cardiac Interventions

A method for fusing a target anatomical structure from a first medical imaging modality to a second medical imaging modality using a plurality of target models of the target anatomical structure, each extracted from a corresponding first medical image acquired using the first medical imaging modality, and a plurality of anchor models of an anchor anatomical structure, each extracted from a corresponding first medical image, the method comprising:

• aligning each of the plurality of target models to a second medical image of a current patient acquired using the second medical imaging modality using a deformation field calculated between a corresponding one of the plurality of anchor models and a model of the anchor anatomical structure segmented in the second medical image, resulting in a plurality of aligned target models;
• calculating a respective weight for each of the plurality of aligned target models based on a distance measure between the corresponding one of the plurality of anchor models and the model of the anchor anatomical structure segmented in the second medical image;
• and
• generating a fused model of the target anatomical structure in the second medical image as a weighted average of the plurality of aligned target models using the respective weight calculated for each of the plurality of aligned target models.

An apparatus for fusion of a model of a target cardiac structure extracted from a first medical image of a patient acquired using a first imaging modality with a second medical image of the patient acquired using a second imaging modality, comprising:

• means for segmenting a first pericardium model in the first medical image;
• means for segmenting a second pericardium model in the second medical image;
• means for estimating a deformation field between the first pericardium model and the second pericardium model;
• and
• means for fusing the model of the target cardiac structure extracted from the first medical image with the second medical image based on the estimated deformation field between the first pericardium model and the second pericardium model.

An apparatus for fusing a target anatomical structure from a first medical imaging modality to a second medical imaging modality using a plurality of target models of the target anatomical structure, each extracted from a corresponding first medical image acquired using the first medical imaging modality, and a plurality of anchor models of an anchor anatomical structure, each extracted from a corresponding first medical image, comprising:

• means for aligning each of the plurality of target models to a second medical image of a current patient acquired using the second medical imaging modality using a deformation field calculated between a corresponding one of the plurality of anchor models and a model of the anchor anatomical structure segmented in the second medical image, resulting in a plurality of aligned target models;
• means for calculating a respective weight for each of the plurality of aligned target models based on a distance measure between the corresponding one of the plurality of anchor models and the model of the anchor anatomical structure segmented in the second medical image;
• and
• means for generating a fused model of the target anatomical structure in the second medical image as a weighted average of the plurality of aligned target models using the respective weight calculated for each of the plurality of aligned target models.

A non-transitory computer readable medium storing computer program instructions for fusion of a model of a target cardiac structure extracted from a first medical image of a patient acquired using a first imaging modality with a second medical image of the patient acquired using a second imaging modality, the computer program instructions when executed on a processor causing the processor to perform operations comprising:

• segmenting a first pericardium model in the first medical image;
• segmenting a second pericardium model in the second medical image;
• estimating a deformation field between the first pericardium model and the second pericardium model;
• and
• fusing the model of the target cardiac structure extracted from the first medical image with the second medical image based on the estimated deformation field between the first pericardium model and the second pericardium model.

A non-transitory computer readable medium storing computer program instructions for fusing a target anatomical structure from a first medical imaging modality to a second medical imaging modality using a plurality of target models of the target anatomical structure, each extracted from a corresponding first medical image acquired using the first medical imaging modality, and a plurality of anchor models of an anchor anatomical structure, each extracted from a corresponding first medical image, the computer program instructions when executed on a processor causing the processor to perform operations comprising:

• aligning each of the plurality of target models to a second medical image of a current patient acquired using the second medical imaging modality using a deformation field calculated between a corresponding one of the plurality of anchor models and a model of the anchor anatomical structure segmented in the second medical image, resulting in a plurality of aligned target models;
• calculating a respective weight for each of the plurality of aligned target models based on a distance measure between the corresponding one of the plurality of anchor models and the model of the anchor anatomical structure segmented in the second medical image;
• and
• generating a fused model of the target anatomical structure in the second medical image as a weighted average of the plurality of aligned target models using the respective weight calculated for each of the plurality of aligned target models.