Registration apparatus for interventional procedure

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10888381-B2
Application number	US-201515119151-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 28, 2015
Priority date	Feb 27, 2014
Publication date	Jan 12, 2021
Grant date	Jan 12, 2021

Abstract

A registration apparatus registers an elongated introduction element (18), like a catheter or a needle, during an interventional procedure, for instance, a brachytherapy or a biopsy. A guide element (13) includes at least one opening which guides the introduction element when being introduced into a living being (2) through the opening. A temperature profile generation element (14) associated with the opening generates a characteristic temperature profile at the opening for being transferred to the introduction element when being present in the opening. A temperature determination unit (15) determines a temperature along the introduction element, and a registration unit (16) registers the introduction element. The registering includes identifying the transferred characteristic temperature profile on the introduction element based on the determined temperature. This allows the registration unit to register the introduction element during the introduction process in a simple and efficient manner.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A registration apparatus for registering an elongated introduction element, the elongated introduction element being adapted to be introduced into a living being for performing an interventional procedure within the living being, wherein the registration apparatus comprises:
a guide element comprising at least one opening for guiding the elongated introduction element when being introduced into the living being through the opening,
wherein the registration apparatus further comprises:
a temperature profile generation element associated with the opening for generating a characteristic temperature profile at the opening of the guide element, the characteristic temperature profile being transferred to a segment of the elongated introduction element being introduced into the living being and currently located in the opening,
a temperature determination unit for determining a temperature profile along the segment of the elongated introduction element, and
a registration unit for registering the elongated introduction element, wherein the registering comprises identifying the transferred characteristic temperature profile on the segment of the elongated introduction element based on the determined temperature profile.

2. The registration apparatus as defined in claim 1 , wherein the registration unit is adapted to identify a position of the transferred characteristic temperature profile on the elongated introduction element and to register the location of the segment of the elongated introduction element based on the identified position.

3. The registration apparatus as defined in claim 1 , wherein the elongated introduction element comprises one or more optical shape sensing fibers for optical shape sensing, wherein the temperature determination unit is adapted to sense the temperature along the elongated introduction element based on strains induced by the temperature in the one or more optical shape sensing fibers.

4. The registration apparatus as defined in claim 1 , wherein the at least one opening comprises a plurality of the openings, wherein each opening comprises a presence identification element for identifying the presence of the elongated introduction element in the opening and for providing an opening identification information identifying the opening, wherein the registration unit is adapted to register the elongated introduction element based on the opening identification information.

5. The registration apparatus as defined in claim 4 , further comprising an opening utilization identification unit for identifying for each opening whether the opening has already been utilized during the interventional procedure, wherein the identifying is based on the opening identification information.

6. The registration apparatus as defined in claim 4 , wherein the presence identification element comprises at least one light source for emitting light and at least one light detector for detecting the light, wherein, when the elongated introduction element is present in the opening, a light path from the light source to the light detector is blocked, wherein the presence identification element is adapted to identify the presence of the introduction element in the opening based on the blocking of the light path.

7. The registration apparatus as defined in claim 1 , wherein the at least one opening comprises a plurality of openings, wherein for each opening, the temperature profile generation element associated with the opening is adapted to generate a different characteristic temperature profile at each of the plurality of openings, wherein the registration apparatus further comprises a presence identification unit for identifying the presence of the elongated introduction element in each of the plurality of openings and for providing an opening identification information identifying each opening in which the elongated introduction element is present, wherein the identification is based on the differences between the characteristic temperature profiles at the openings, wherein the registration unit is adapted to register the elongated introduction element based on the opening identification information.

8. The registration apparatus as defined in claim 1 , wherein the temperature profile generation element comprises at least one light source for generating the characteristic temperature profile by heating with the light source.

9. The registration apparatus as defined in claim 1 , wherein the opening extends along a longitudinal axis and the characteristic temperature profile comprises a spatial temperature gradient in the direction of the longitudinal axis.

10. The registration apparatus as defined in claim 9 , wherein the temperature profile generation element comprises a heating element and a cooling element for generating the spatial temperature profile gradient by a combination of heating and cooling.

11. The registration apparatus as defined in claim 9 , further including:
a rotation constraining element associated with the opening and configured to constrain the rotation of the elongated introduction element.

12. A registration method for using the registration apparatus defined in claim 1 , comprising:
guiding the elongated introduction element through the opening of the guide element into the living being through the opening;
generating the characteristic temperature profile at the opening, using the temperature profile generation element associated with the opening;
determining a temperature along a segment of the elongated introduction element located in the opening with the temperature determination unit, and
registering the elongated introduction element with the registration unit, including identifying the characteristic temperature profile transferred to the segment of the elongated introduction element located in the opening.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable medium carrying computer software configured to control the registration apparatus to perform the registration method as defined in claim 12 .

14. A registration apparatus for registering an elongated introduction element and a guide plate defining an array of openings configured to receive the elongated introduction element being introduced into a living being through a selected one of openings to perform an interventional procedure within the living being, wherein the registration apparatus comprises:
at least one of a heater and a cooler associated with each opening for generating a characteristic temperature profile in a segment of the elongated introduction element being introduced through the selected one of the openings;
a temperature sensor mounted along the elongated introduction element and configured to sense the characteristic temperature profile associated with the selected one of the openings in the segment of the elongated introduction element; and
a computer processor configured to register the elongated introduction element and the guide plate, wherein the registering includes identifying the transferred characteristic temperature profile sensed by the temperature sensor of the elongated introduction element.

15. The registration apparatus as defined in claim 14 , wherein the computer processor is configured to identify a position where the sensed characteristic temperature profile is sensed on the elongated introduction element and to register the position of the sensed characteristic temperature profile along the elongated introduction element.

16. The registration apparatus as defined in claim 14 , wherein each opening of the array of openings is associated with a unique character

Assignees

• Koninklijke Philips Nv

Inventors

• Hautvast Guillaume Leopold Theodoros Frederik
• Binnekamp Dirk
• Bharat Shyam
• Dehghan Marvast Ehsan
• Kruecker Jochen
• Flexman Molly Lara
• Tahmasebi Maraghoosh Amir Mohammad

Classifications

• A61N2005/1012

  Templates or grids for guiding the introduction of sources · CPC title

• A61N5/1049

  for verifying the position of the patient with respect to the radiation beam · CPC title

• A61B2090/035

  preventing further rotation · CPC title

• A61B2090/061

  for measuring dimensions, e.g. length · CPC title

• A61B2017/00477

  Coupling (A61B2017/0046 takes precedence) · CPC title