Virtual fluoroscopic system and method
AssigneeCbyon, Inc.
InventorsRamin Shahidi, Robert Grzeszczuk
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and system for obtaining desired subsurface views of a patient target site are disclosed. The system includes a scan-data file for storing, in digital form, volumetric scan data of a surgical site of a patient, a pointer for indicating the position and orientation of desired views, and a display screen for placement near the patient target region. A computational device operatively connected to the data file, pointer, and display screen functions to reconstruct a 2-D shadowgraph images of the patient region from the position and orientation of the pointer. By moving the pointer to selected positions and orientations, the user can view optimal and desired shadowgraph images of the patient in real time.
Claims8
A method of obtaining desired subsurface views of a patient target site, comprising
- (a) obtaining volumetric scan data of a surgical site of a patient, and storing the scan data in digital form in a scan-data file, where the scan data is composed of voxels having defined coordinates and associated M-bit tissue-density values,
- (b) with the patient positioned in a surgical station, selecting a point in space representing a virtual fluoroscopic irradiation source,
- (c) defining a plurality of rays extending between the source point and each of a plurality of points in a two-dimensional XY array of points, where (i) the array points correspond to pixels in an XY pixel array in a display screen, and (ii) at least some of the rays pass through a plurality of such voxels in the patient target region,
- (d) for each ray, summing the M-bit values of the voxels along that ray,
- (e) displaying the image constructed of gray-scale values representing the summed M-bit density values at each pixel in said display screen, and
- (f) repeating steps (a)-(e) until a desired displayed subsurface view of the patient target site is obtained.
A system for use in obtaining desired subsurface views of a patient target site, comprising
- (a) a scan-data file for storing, in digital form, volumetric scan data of a surgical site of a patient, where the scan data is composed of voxels having defined coordinates and associated M-bit tissue-density values,
- (b) a display screen containing a two-dimensional XY array of pixel elements,
- (c) a pointer for indicating selected positions and orientations from which subsurface views are to be reconstructed, and
- (d) a computational device operatively connected to the data file, pointer, and display screen for (i) determining the position and orientation of the pointer, (ii) defining a plurality of rays extending between a selected pointer position and each of a plurality of points in a two-dimensional XY array, where (iia) the array points correspond to array pixels in the display screen, and (iib) at least some of the rays pass through a plurality of scan-date voxels in the patient target region, (iii) for each ray, for each ray, summing the M-bit values of the voxels along that ray, and (iv) displaying the image constructed of gray-scale values representing the summed M-bit density values at each pixel in said display screen.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.