Apparatus and methods of compensating for organ deformation, registration of internal structures to images, and applications of same

A method of surface registration in image guided surgery, comprising the steps of:

• a. pre-operatively acquiring an image of an anatomic structure of an organ of a living subject;
• b. generating a first surface of the anatomic structure of the organ from the preoperatively acquired image of the anatomic structure of the organ;
• c. constructing one or more first patches of the first surface of the anatomic structure, wherein each of the first patches contains a surface subset of physical space data related to a particular salient anatomical feature of the first surface of the anatomic structure, and assigning a weighted correspendence of a weighted point-based registration to the particular salient anatomical feature of each of the first patches;
• d. intra-operatively acquiring an incomplete image of the anatomic structure of the organ;
• e. generating a second surface of the anatomic structure of the organ from the intraoperatively acquired incomplete image of the anatomic structure of the organ, wherein the second surface is an incomplete surface of the anatomic structure of the organ;
• f. constructing one or more second patches of the second surface of the anatomic structure, wherein each second patch contains a surface subset of physical space data from the second surface related to a corresponding salient anatomical feature of the first surface of the anatomic structure;
• g. aligning the one or more second patches to the corresponding one or more first patches, wherein each second patch is dynamically biased to a corresponding first patch using the weighted point-based registration;
• and
• h. completing a registration of the second surface to the first surface with physical space data not contained in the first and second patches to indicate surgical position in both image space and physical space.

A method of surface registration in image guided surgery, comprising the steps of:

• a. generating a first surface of an anatomic structure of an organ from pre-operatively acquired images of the anatomic structure of the organ;
• b. generating a second surface of the anatomic structure of the organ from intra-operatively acquired incomplete images of the anatomic structure of the organ, wherein the second surface is an incomplete surface of the anatomic structure of the organ;
• c. constructing one or more second patches corresponding to the second surface of the anatomic structure, wherein each second patch contains a surface subset of physical space data from the second surface related to a corresponding particular salient anatomical feature of the first surface of the anatomic structure, and assigning a weighted correspendence of a weighted point-based registration to the particular salient anatomical feature;
• d. aligning the one or more second patches to the corresponding one or more first patches, wherein each second patch is dynamically biased to a corresponding first patch using the weighted point-based registration;
• and
• e. completing a registration of the second surface to the first surface with physical space data not contained in the first and second patches to indicate surgical position in both image space and physical space.

A system of surface registration in image guided surgery, comprising:

• a. a first imaging acquiring device for pre-operatively acquiring images of an anatomic structure of an organ of a living subject;
• b. a second imaging acquiring device for intra-operatively acquiring incomplete images of the anatomic structure of the organ;
• and
• c. at least one computer coupled with the first image acquiring device and the second image acquiring device and adapted for performing the steps of:
• i). generating a first surface of the anatomic structure of the organ from the pre-operatively acquired images of the anatomic structure of the organ;
• ii). constructing one or more first patches of the first surface of the anatomic structure, wherein each of the first patchs contains a surface subset of physical space data related to a particular salient anatomical feature of the first surface of the anatomic structure, and assigning a weighted correspendence of a weighted point-based registration to the particular salient anatomical feature of each of the first patches;
• iii). generating a second surface of the anatomic structure of the organ from the intra-operatively acquired incomplete images of the anatomic structure of the organ, wherein the second surface is an incomplete surface of the anatomic structure of the organ;
• iv). constructing one or more second patches of the second surface of the anatomic structure, wherein each second patch contains a surface subset of physical space data from the second surface related to a corresponding salient anatomical feature of the first surface of the anatomic structure;
• v). aligning the one or more second patches to the corresponding one or more first patches, wherein each second patch is dynamically biased to a corresponding first patch using the weighted point-based registration;
• and
• vi). completing a registration of the second surface to the first surface with physical space data not contained in the first and second patches to indicate surgical position in both image space and physical space.