Adaptive image registration for ophthalmic surgery

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10987172-B2
Application number	US-201715837406-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 11, 2017
Priority date	Dec 15, 2016
Publication date	Apr 27, 2021
Grant date	Apr 27, 2021

Abstract

An ophthalmic surgical system includes a first imaging system configured to generate a first image of an eye, a second imaging system configured to generate a second image of the eye, and an image registration system to receive the first image generated by the first imaging system, receive the second image generated by a second imaging system, track a location of a distal tip of a surgical instrument in the first image, define a priority registration region in the first image, register the priority registration region in the first image with a corresponding region in the second image, and update the registration of the priority registration region in the first image with the corresponding region in the second image in real time, without registering portions of the first or second images that are outside the registration regions.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An ophthalmic imaging system, comprising:
a first imaging system configured to generate a first image of an eye;
a second imaging system configured to generate a second image of the eye;
an image registration system comprising a processor and instructions stored on a memory, the instructions executable by the processor to cause the image registration system to:
receive the first image generated by the first imaging system;
receive the second image generated by the second imaging system;
track a location of a distal tip of a surgical instrument in the first image;
define a priority registration region in the first image, the priority registration region comprising a portion of the first image within a predetermined proximity of the distal tip of the surgical instrument;
register the priority registration region in the first image with a corresponding region in the second image; and
update registration of the priority registration region in the first image with the corresponding region in the second image in real time as the distal tip is moved, without registering portions of the first and second images that are outside the priority registration regions, wherein a size of the priority registration region is dynamically increased or decreased as necessary to maintain a desired performance in the priority registration region as a processing load varies.

2. The ophthalmic surgical system of claim 1 , wherein the first and second images comprise first and second images of a fundus, a sclera, or an iris.

3. The ophthalmic surgical system of claim 2 , wherein the first imaging system comprises at least one of a surgical microscope, a 2-dimensional camera, a line-scan camera, and a single detector as used in a confocal scanning ophthalmoscope.

4. The ophthalmic surgical system of claim 3 , wherein the second imaging system comprises at least one of an Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) imaging system and a fluorescein angiogram imaging system.

5. The system of claim 4 , further comprising instructions executable by the processor to cause the image registration system to generate, in real time, a display image in which:
the priority registration region in the first image is aligned with the corresponding priority registration region in the second image; and
portions of the first or second images that are outside the priority registration regions are not registered.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein an unregistered portion of the first or second image is visually suppressed in the generated display image.

7. The ophthalmic surgical system of claim 5 , further comprising an eyepiece or a heads-up screen configured to display the generated display image.

8. The ophthalmic surgical system of claim 5 , wherein at least one characteristic of the priority registration region is configurable by a user.

9. The ophthalmic surgical system of claim 8 , wherein a size of the priority registration region is configurable by a user.

10. The ophthalmic surgical system of claim 1 , wherein the distal tip comprises a feature of interest selected by a system operator.

11. A method for registering images in an ophthalmic imaging system, comprising:
receiving a first image of an eye generated by a first imaging system;
receiving a second image of the eye generated by a second imaging system;
tracking a location of a distal tip of a surgical instrument in the first image;
defining a priority registration region in the first image, the priority registration region comprising a portion of the first image within a predetermined proximity of the distal tip of the surgical instrument;
registering the priority registration region in the first image with a corresponding region in the second image; and
updating registration of the priority registration region in the first image with the corresponding region in the second image in real time as the distal tip is moved, without registering portions of the first and second images that are outside the priority registration regions, wherein a size of the priority registration region is dynamically increased or decreased as necessary to maintain a desired performance in the priority registration region as a processing load varies.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising generating, in real time, a display image in which:
the priority registration region in the first image is aligned with the corresponding priority registration region in the second image; and
portions of the first or second images that are outside the priority registration regions are not registered.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising visually suppressing an unregistered portion of the first or second image.

14. The method of claim 12 , further comprising displaying the display image in an eyepiece or on a heads-up screen.

15. The method of claim 11 , further comprising defining the priority registration region in the first image based on user input.

16. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving, from a system operator, an input identifying the distal tip as a feature of interest to be tracked.

Assignees

• Novartis Ag
• Alcon Inc

Inventors

• Ren Hugang
• Yu Lingfeng

Classifications

• G02B21/0012

  Surgical microscopes (counterbalanced structures for surgical microscopes G02B7/001) · CPC title

• A61F2009/00851

  Optical coherence topography [OCT] · CPC title

• A61F9/007 Primary

  Methods or devices for eye surgery · CPC title

• A61B2090/502

  Headgear, e.g. helmet, spectacles · CPC title

• A61B2090/3735

  Optical coherence tomography [OCT] · CPC title