Tracking quality control for electromagnetic guidance

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10816585-B2
Application number	US-201515537894-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 9, 2015
Priority date	Dec 24, 2014
Publication date	Oct 27, 2020
Grant date	Oct 27, 2020

Abstract

An electromagnetic field quality assurance system employing an electromagnetic field generator ( 10 ) for emitting an electromagnetic field ( 12 ), and one or more quality assurance electromagnetic sensors ( 11, 21, 31, 41, 50 ) for sensing the emission of the electromagnetic field ( 12 ). The system further employs a quality assurance controller ( 74 ) for assessing a tracking quality of the electromagnetic field ( 12 ) derived from a monitoring of a sensed position of each quality assurance electromagnetic sensor ( 11, 21, 31, 41, 50 ) within a field-of-view of the electromagnetic field ( 12 ). The electromagnetic field generator ( 10 ), an ultrasound probe ( 20 ), an ultrasound stepper ( 30 ) and/or a patient table ( 40 ) may be equipped with the quality assurance electromagnetic sensor(s) ( 11, 21, 31, 41, 50 ).

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An electromagnetic field quality assurance system, comprising:
an electromagnetic field generator operable to emit an electromagnetic field;
at least one quality assurance electromagnetic sensor operable to sense an emission of the electromagnetic field by the electromagnetic field generator; and
a quality assurance controller operable in communication with the at least one quality assurance electromagnetic sensor, wherein the quality assurance controller is configured to:
monitor a sensed position of the at least one quality assurance electromagnetic sensor within a field-of-view of the electromagnetic field during an interventional procedure,
compare the sensed position of the at least one quality assurance electromagnetic sensor with an independently determined position of the at least one quality assurance electromagnetic sensor during the interventional procedure, and in response to the comparison to produce a variation between the sensed position and the independently determined position,
assess a tracking quality of the electromagnetic field during the interventional procedure based on a comparison between the variation and a non-zero quality threshold, and
provide to a user during the interventional procedure, via a user interface, a real-time indication of whether the assessed tracking quality of the electromagnetic field is determined to be reliable for tracking purposes, or whether the tracking quality of the electromagnetic field is determined to be unreliable for tracking purposes.

2. The electromagnetic field quality assurance system of claim 1 , further comprising:
an ultrasound stepper,
wherein the ultrasound stepper is configured to translationally move the at least one quality assurance electromagnetic sensor within the field-of-view of the electromagnetic field,
wherein the ultrasound stepper includes an encoder which is configured to measure a translational distance that the ultrasound stepper moves the at least one quality assurance electromagnetic sensor within the field-of-view of the electromagnetic field during a time interval,
wherein the quality assurance controller is configured to monitor a sensed translational distance which an ultrasound stepper moves the at least one quality assurance electromagnetic sensor within the field-of-view of the electromagnetic field during a time interval, based on the sensed position of the at least one quality assurance electromagnetic sensor, and
wherein the quality assurance controller is configured to produce an absolute translational motion variation as a difference between: the measured translational distance during the time interval, measured by the encoder, and the sensed translational distance for the at least one quality assurance electromagnetic sensor within the field-of-view of the electromagnetic field during the time interval, monitored by the quality assurance controller,
wherein the quality assurance controller is further configured to determine that the electromagnetic field is not reliable for tracking purposes when the absolute translational motion variation is not greater than the non-zero quality threshold, and
wherein the quality assurance controller is further configured to determine that the electromagnetic field is reliable for tracking purposes when the absolute translational motion variation is greater than the non-zero quality threshold.

3. The electromagnetic field quality assurance system of claim 1 ,
wherein the quality assurance controller is operable to compute a geometrical distance between a pair of quality assurance electromagnetic sensors as a function of sensed positions of the pair of quality assurance electromagnetic sensors within the field-of-view of the electromagnetic field.

4. The electromagnetic field quality assurance system of claim 3 , wherein the quality assurance controller is operable to compute the variation as an absolute error differential between the computed geometrical distance, and a known physical distance between the pair of quality assurance electromagnetic sensors.

5. The electromagnetic field quality assurance system of claim 1 ,
wherein the at least one quality assurance electromagnetic sensor within the field-of-view of the electromagnetic field includes a first quality assurance electromagnetic sensor within the field-of-view of the electromagnetic field, and
wherein the quality assurance controller is operable to compute a temporal position variation of a sensed position of the first quality assurance electromagnetic sensor within the field-of-view of the electromagnetic field.

6. The electromagnetic field quality assurance system of claim 5 , wherein the quality assurance controller is operable to compare the temporal position variation to the non-zero quality threshold.

7. The electromagnetic field quality assurance system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one quality assurance electromagnetic sensor within the field-of-view of the electromagnetic field includes a first quality assurance electromagnetic sensor within the field-of-view of the electromagnetic field, the system further comprising an ultrasound probe equipped with the first quality assurance electromagnetic sensor,
wherein the quality assurance controller is operable in electrical communication with the first quality assurance sensor to sense a motion of the first quality assurance electromagnetic sensor within the field-of-view of the electromagnetic field, and
wherein the quality assurance controller is further operable to compute a motion variation between a sensed motion of the first quality assurance electromagnetic sensor within the field-of-view of the electromagnetic field and a measured motion of the ultrasound probe by the encoder.

8. The electromagnetic field quality assurance system of claim 7 , wherein the quality assurance controller is operable to compare the computed motion variation to the non-zero quality threshold.

9. A quality assurance controller for assessing a tracking quality of an emission of electromagnetic field by an electromagnetic field generator and sensed by at least one quality assurance electromagnetic sensor, the quality assurance controller comprising:
an electromagnetic sensor monitoring module operable to monitor a sensed position of the at least one quality assurance electromagnetic sensor within a field-of-view of the electromagnetic field during an interventional procedure;
a quality assessment module operable to:
compare the sensed position of the at least one quality assurance electromagnetic sensor with an independently determined position of the at least one quality assurance electromagnetic sensor during the interventional procedure,
produce, in response to the comparison, a variation between the sensed position and the independently determined position,
assess the tracking quality of the electromagnetic field during the interventional procedure based on a comparison between the variation and a non-zero quality threshold, and
provide a signal to a user interface to provide to a user, during the interventional procedure, a real-time indication of whether the assessed tracking quality of the electromagnetic field is determined to be reliable for tracking purposes, or whether the tracking quality of the electromagnetic field is determined to be unreliable for tracking purposes.

10. The quality assurance controller of claim 9 ,
wherein the electromagnetic sensor monitoring module is configured to monitor a sensed translational distance which an ultrasound stepper moves the at least one quality assurance electromagnetic sensor within the field-of-view of the electromagnetic field during a time interval based on the sensed position

Assignees

• Koninklijke Philips Nv

Inventors

• Dehghan Marvast Ehsan
• Bharat Shyam
• Tahmasebi Maraghoosh Amir Mohammad
• Dalal Sandeep M
• Kruecker Jochen
• Kung Cynthia Ming-Fu
• Venugopal Niranjan
• Ravi Ananth

Classifications

• A61N5/1001 Primary

  using radiation sources introduced into or applied onto the body; brachytherapy · CPC title

• A61B34/20

  Surgical navigation systems; Devices for tracking or guiding surgical instruments, e.g. for frameless stereotaxis · CPC title

• A61N2005/1051

  using an active marker · CPC title

• A61B2034/2051

  Electromagnetic tracking systems · CPC title

• A61N5/1075

  for testing, calibrating, or quality assurance of the radiation treatment apparatus · CPC title