System and methods for determining proximity relative to an anatomical structure

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11711596-B2
Application number	US-202017111348-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 3, 2020
Priority date	Jan 23, 2020
Publication date	Jul 25, 2023
Grant date	Jul 25, 2023

Abstract

A system includes a surgical instrument configured to perform a laparoscopic surgical operation, a location sensor configured to identify a spatial relationship between an anatomical structure and the surgical instrument, and a processor configured to receive a graphical representation of a patient, determine proximity of the distal end portion of the surgical instrument with the anatomical structure of the patient based on the spatial relationship, and generate a warning based on the determination of proximity.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for determining proximity of a surgical instrument with respect to an anatomical structure, the system comprising:
a surgical instrument configured to perform a laparoscopic surgical operation;
an electromagnetic sensor operably coupled to the surgical instrument and configured to sense an electromagnetic wave corresponding to a position of a distal end portion of the surgical instrument within an electromagnetic field; and
a processor configured to:
cause a display device to display a first graphical representation of a patient, the first graphical representation including a representation of a target anatomical structure, a representation of a non-target anatomical structure, and a representation of the distal end portion of the surgical instrument;
determine a position of the representation of the distal end portion of the surgical instrument within the first graphical representation of the patient based on the position of the distal end portion of the surgical instrument within the electromagnetic field;
determine a proximity of the distal end portion of the surgical instrument to the non-target anatomical structure of the patient based on the determined position of the representation of the distal end portion of the surgical instrument within the first graphical representation of the patient and a position of the representation of the non-target anatomical structure within the first graphical representation of the patient;
generate a warning based on the determined proximity; and
cause the display device to display a second graphical representation of the patient, the second graphical representation including the representation of the distal end portion of the surgical instrument displayed relative to the representation of the non-target anatomical structure based on the determined proximity.

2. The system according to claim 1 , further comprising a location sensor configured to emit a probing signal to the non-target anatomical structure and to receive a signal reflected from the non-target anatomical structure.

3. The system according to claim 2 , wherein the proximity of the distal end portion the non-target anatomical structure is also based on the received signal.

4. The system according to claim 1 , further comprising a laparoscopic camera configured to capture an image of the surgical instrument and the non-target anatomical structure.

5. The system according to claim 4 , wherein the proximity of the distal end portion of the surgical instrument to the non-target anatomical structure is also based on the captured image.

6. The system according to claim 4 , wherein the processor is further configured to perform image processing on the captured image to determine the proximity of the distal end portion of the surgical instrument to the non-target anatomical structure.

7. The system according to claim 6 , wherein the processor determines the proximity based on a distance between the distal end portion in the captured image and the non-target anatomical structure in the captured image.

8. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the first graphical representation is a three-dimensional model or a live video.

9. A method for determining proximity of a surgical instrument with respect to an anatomical structure, the method comprising:
providing a first graphical representation of a patient, the first graphical representation including a representation of a target anatomical structure, a representation of a non-target anatomical structure, and a representation of a distal end portion of a surgical instrument;
sensing an electromagnetic wave corresponding to a position of the distal end portion of the surgical instrument within an electromagnetic field using an electromagnetic sensor;
determining a position of the representation of the distal end portion of the surgical instrument within the first graphical representation of the patient based on the position of the distal end portion of the surgical instrument within the electromagnetic field;
determining a proximity of the distal end portion of the surgical instrument to the non-target anatomical structure of the patient based on the determined position of the representation of the distal end portion of the surgical instrument within the first graphical representation of the patient and a position of the representation of the non-target anatomical structure within the first graphical representation of the patient;
generating a warning based on the determined proximity; and
providing a second graphical representation of the patient, the second graphical representation including the representation of the distal end portion of the surgical instrument displayed relative to the representation of the non-target anatomical structure based on the determined proximity.

10. The method according to claim 9 , further comprising:
emitting a probing signal to the non-target anatomical structure; and
receiving a signal reflected from the non-target anatomical structure.

11. The method according to claim 10 , wherein the proximity of the distal end portion of the surgical instrument to the non-target anatomical structure is also based on the received signal.

12. The method according to claim 9 , further comprising:
capturing an image of the surgical instrument and the non-target anatomical structure.

13. The method according to claim 12 , wherein the proximity of the distal end portion of the surgical instrument to the non-target anatomical structure is also based on the captured image.

14. The method according to claim 12 , further comprising:
performing image processing on the captured image to determine the proximity of the distal end portion to the non-target anatomical structure.

15. The method according to claim 14 , wherein the proximity is determined based on a distance between the distal end portion and the non-target anatomical structure in the captured image.

16. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the first graphical representation is a three-dimensional model or a live video.

17. A nontransitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program for causing a computer to execute a method for determining proximity of a surgical instrument with respect to an anatomical structure, the method comprising:
providing a first graphical representation of a patient, the first graphical representation including a representation of a target anatomical structure, a representation of a non-target anatomical structure, and a representation of a distal end portion of a surgical instrument;
sensing an electromagnetic wave corresponding to a position of the distal end portion of the surgical instrument within an electromagnetic field using an electromagnetic sensor;
determining a position of the representation of the distal end portion of the surgical instrument within the first graphical representation of the patient based on the position of the distal end portion of the surgical instrument within the electromagnetic field;
determining a proximity of the distal end portion of the surgical instrument to the non-target anatomical structure of the patient based on the determined position of the representation of the distal end portion of the surgical instrument within the first graphical representation of the patient and a position of the representation of the non-target anatomical structure within the first graphical representation of the patient;
generating a warning based on the determined proximity; and
providing a second graphical representation of the patient, the second graphic

Assignees

• Covidien Lp

Inventors

• Lennartz Amanda H
• Joseph Daniel A
• Twomey Cornelia F
• Wehrly Erin E
• Gherardi Pierre
• Pheneger Tracy J
• Garrison David M
• Bagrosky Tyler J
• Wham Robert H
• Zhao Jing

Classifications

• H04N23/50 Primary

  Constructional details · CPC title

• A61B1/00045

  Display arrangement · CPC title

• A61B1/05

  characterised by the image sensor, e.g. camera, being in the distal end portion · CPC title

• A61B1/3132

  for laparoscopy · CPC title

• G06T7/70 Primary

  Determining position or orientation of objects or cameras (camera calibration G06T7/80) · CPC title