Catheter RF ablation using segmentation-based 2D-3D registration

A method for providing real-time visualization of an anatomical structure during an electrophysiology intervention, comprising:

• acquiring a three-dimensional image including the anatomical structure using a single-frame imaging modality;
• projecting the acquired three-dimensional image into two-dimensions to produce a two-dimensional projection image of the anatomical structure;
• segmenting a structure of interest either from the acquired three-dimensional image or from the two-dimensional projection image;
• acquiring a sequence of two-dimensional image frames of the anatomical structure using a real-time imaging modality;
• segmenting the structure of interest from a selected frame of the acquired sequence of two-dimensional image frames;
• generating a first distance map based on the two-dimensional projection image in which each pixel of the two-dimensional projection image is labeled with a distance to a nearest image feature pixel of the two-dimensional projection image;
• generating a second distance map based on the selected frame of the acquired sequence of two-dimensional image frames in which each pixel of the selected frame of the acquired sequence of two-dimensional image frames is labeled with a distance to a nearest image feature pixel of the selected frame of the acquired sequence of two-dimensional image frames;
• performing registration of the acquired three-dimensional image and the sequence of two-dimensional image frames by minimizing a difference between the first and second distance maps;
• and
• continuously superimposing the acquired three-dimensional image over each frame of the sequence of two-dimensional image frames and displaying the superposition for use in guiding electrophysiology intervention,
• wherein each of the above steps are performed using a computer system.

A computer system comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a non-transitory, tangible, program storage medium, readable by the computer system, embodying a program of instructions executable by the processor to perform method steps for registering a two-dimensional image of a cardiocirculatory structure and a three-dimensional image of the cardiocirculatory structure, the method comprising:
• acquiring the three-dimensional image including the cardiocirculatory structure using a first imaging modality;
• projecting the acquired three-dimensional image into two-dimensions to produce a two-dimensional projection image of the cardiocirculatory structure;
• acquiring a sequence of two-dimensional image frames of the cardiocirculatory structure using a fluoroscope;
• selecting an image frame from the sequence of two-dimensional image frames by gating the sequence of two-dimensional image frames according to cardiac phase information corresponding to the acquisition of the three-dimensional image;
• removing background information from the selected image frame of the acquired sequence of two-dimensional image frames;
• generating a first distance map based on the two-dimensional projection image in which each pixel of the two-dimensional projection image is labeled with a distance to a nearest image feature pixel of the two-dimensional projection image;
• generating a second distance map based on the background-removed selected image frame of the acquired sequence of two-dimensional image frames in which each pixel of the background-removed selected image frame of the acquired sequence of two-dimensional image frames is labeled with a distance to a nearest image feature pixel of the background-removed selected image frame of the acquired sequence of two-dimensional image frames;
• and
• performing registration of the three-dimensional image and the acquired sequence of two-dimensional image frames by minimizing a difference between the first and second distance maps.