Method for automatically aligning a medical instrument in the body of a patient using a computed tomography apparatus
AssigneeSiemens Aktiengesellschaft
InventorMichael Loser
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Abstract
In a method for the automatic alignment of a medical instrument with respect to a target point in a patient body such as, for subsequent removal of a tissue sample or for therapy of a tumor in the target point, using a computed tomography apparatus with fluoroscopy mode, a guidance system aligns the medical instrument at a paracentesis point of the patient body in a CT image plane, and the spatial coordinates of the CT image plane are determined for the guidance system.
Claims20
A method for automatically aligning a medical instrument relative to a target point in a patient's body using a computed tomography apparatus with fluoroscopy mode, comprising the steps of:
- (a) positioning a paracentesis tip of the medical instrument at a paracentesis point of the patient's body using an automated guidance system;
- (b) using said automated guidance system, positioning the medical instrument in a first position in a CT image plane that contains the paracentesis point;
- (c) determining and storing spatial coordinates of the medical instrument in said first position;
- (d) using said automated guidance system, positioning the medical instrument in a second position in said CT image plane that differs from said first position;
- (e) determining and storing spatial coordinates of the medical instrument in said second position;
- and
- (f) determining spatial coordinates of said CT image plane from the spatial coordinates determined and stored in steps (c) and (e).
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.