Medical imaging apparatus, system and method

A medical imaging apparatus comprising:

• a flexible skin patch comprising an adhesive layer on a lower side thereof so that said skin patch is releasably adherable to skin, in use;
• and
• at least one fiducial marker fast on an upper side of said skin patch, the fiducial marker comprising:
• i. a radiopaque core detectable via a first imaging modality;
• and
• ii. an infrared reflective coating detectable via a second imaging modality;
• wherein said fiducial marker is detectable as a shared, single position in space via both first and second imaging modalities, and wherein a plurality of such fiducial markers is adherable to skin of a patient, by means of said skin patch(es), to define an array of fiducial markers in a Cartesian coordinate system to enable real-time correlation of virtual and physical space by using the fiducial markers in said array each as a single, shared corresponding position within the Cartesian coordinate system as a navigational aid for an image-guided medical procedure.

A medical imaging system comprising:

• a stereoscopic computer vision system configured to monitor a physical space proximate a patient;
• a computed tomography scanner configured to perform a CT scan to produce a virtual space of said patient;
• at least one medical imaging apparatus comprising a flexible skin patch with an adhesive layer on a lower side thereof and at least one fiducial marker fast on an upper side thereof, the fiducial marker comprising a radiopaque core with an infrared reflective coating, wherein a plurality of such fiducial markers is adherable to a surface of the patient, by means of said skin patch(es), to define an array of fiducial markers in a Cartesian coordinate system;
• a processor arranged in signal communication with the stereoscopic computer vision system and computed tomography scanner, said processor configured to correlate the virtual and physical space using the fiducial markers in said array each as a single, shared corresponding position within the Cartesian coordinate system;
• and
• a display configured to display such correlated space in real-time as a navigational aid for an image-guided medical procedure.

A medical imaging method comprising the steps of:

• adhering a plurality of medical imaging apparatus to a surface of a patient, the medical imaging apparatus comprising a flexible skin patch with an adhesive layer on a lower side thereof and at least one fiducial marker fast on an upper side thereof, the fiducial marker comprising a radiopaque core with an infrared reflective coating, said plurality of fiducial markers defining an array in a Cartesian coordinate system;
• performing a CT scan on the patient via a computed tomography scanner to produce a virtual space of said patient;
• monitoring a physical space proximate the patient via a stereoscopic computer vision system;
• and
• correlating, via a processor, the virtual and physical space using the array of fiducial markers each as a single, corresponding position shared between said virtual and physical space as a real-time navigational aid for an image-guided medical procedure.