System and method for dynamic validation, correction of registration misalignment for surgical navigation between the real and virtual images

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11717376-B2
Application number	US-202017015186-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 9, 2020
Priority date	Mar 15, 2013
Publication date	Aug 8, 2023
Grant date	Aug 8, 2023

Abstract

A system and method for dynamic validation, registration correction for surgical navigation during medical procedures involving confirmation of registration between previously registered virtual objects, in a common coordinate frame of a surgical navigation system and an operating room, and intra-operatively acquired imaging during the medical procedure in the common coordinate frame. The method involves displaying intra-operatively acquired imaging of the surgical field, containing the real objects corresponding to the previously registered virtual objects, with the real objects being tracked by a tracking system. The method involves overlaying a virtual image containing the previously registered virtual objects onto the intra-operatively acquired imaging, from the point of view of the intra-operatively acquired imaging, and detecting any misalignment between any the previously registered virtual objects contained in the virtual image and its corresponding real object contained in the intra-operatively acquired imaging.

First claim

What is claimed:

1. A computer-implemented method of detecting registration error during a medical procedure by way of a registration error detection system, the registration error detection system comprising a surgical navigation system and a computer control system, the computer control system comprising a processor, the navigation system comprising a tracking system, the tracking system comprising an imaging system and a tracking device, the imaging system comprising an actual camera having a virtual camera aligned therewith, and the registration error detection system operable with a display system, the display system comprising a display, the method comprising:
acquiring, in real-time, using the actual camera, a continuous intra-operatively acquired image stream of intraoperative images of a surgical field having a medical instrument as a real object, the at least one real object previously registered with at least one corresponding virtual object, the actual camera and the at least one real object previously registered, via the tracking system, to a common coordinate frame relative to a tracked reference marker, and the tracked reference marker disposed in a fixed position relative to a patient anatomy;
displaying the intraoperative image on the display;
acquiring a pre-operative image as a virtual image from an imaging device having at least one virtual object in the common coordinate frame;
overlaying, in real-time during the procedure, the virtual image in relation to the intraoperative image on the display;
detecting any misalignment between any one of the at least one real object of the intraoperative image and the corresponding at least one virtual object of the virtual image, wherein a presence of misalignment is indicative of registration error between the at least one virtual object and the corresponding at least one real object, and wherein a coordinate frame of the surgical navigation system is spatially registered with a coordinate frame of patient imaging data through respective alignment of corresponding pairs of at least one virtual point and at least one actual point;
automatically correcting the misalignment based on a difference between at least one local tissue characteristic and at least one virtual instrument representation at a location being focused and a live video stream of the surgical field, automatically correcting comprising: nonlinearly manipulating a rendering of a patient image and the virtual image to align with the intraoperative imaging; and nonlinearly manipulating comprising using optical flow to generate an alignment with the at least one real object, thereby providing an immediate local registration correction; and
globally applying the local registration correction to at least one of the imaging system, the tracking system, and the display system, thereby providing dynamic validation and re-registration, and thereby eliminating any need to reposition a patient.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein, if a misalignment is detected in the detecting step, further comprising:
applying at least one of translating, rotating, skewing, and scaling of the at least one virtual object in the common coordinate frame to align the at least one virtual object with the corresponding at least one real object in the common coordinate frame for re-registering the at least one virtual object; and
assigning the reregistered at least one virtual object as the previously registered at least one virtual object in the common coordinate frame.

3. The method of claim 2 ,
wherein the at least one real object comprises an anatomical part undergoing the medical procedure, and
wherein the at least one pre-registered virtual object in the virtual image comprises a pre-operative image of the anatomical part.

4. The method of claim 2 ,
wherein the at least one real object comprises a medical instrument, and
wherein the at least one pre-registered virtual object in the virtual image comprises a virtual image of at least one medical instrument.

5. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the at least one real object comprises an anatomical part undergoing the medical procedure,
wherein the at least one pre-registered virtual objects in the virtual image comprises a pre-operative image of the anatomical part,
wherein the at least one real object comprises a medical instrument, and
wherein the at least one preregistered virtual object in the virtual image comprises a virtual image of at least one medical instrument.

6. The method of claim 3 , wherein the anatomical part comprises a brain.

7. The method of claim 6 ,
wherein the surgical field comprises at least one landmark, and
wherein the at least one landmark comprises at least one of: a morphological feature intrinsically associated with the brain, a head of the patient, and a face of the patient.

8. The method of claim 6 ,
wherein the surgical field comprises at least one landmark, and
wherein the at least one landmark comprises a plurality of fiducial markers disposed in a plurality of fixed and known positions in relation to the brain.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the plurality of fiducial markers comprises at least one of a plurality of active fiducial markers and a plurality of passive fiducial markers.

10. The method of claim 8 ,
wherein the surgical field comprises a plurality of landmarks,
wherein the plurality of landmarks comprises at least one of a plurality of morphological features intrinsically associated with the anatomical part and a plurality of fiducial markers disposed in a plurality of preselected positions in relation to the anatomical part, and
wherein the plurality of fiducial markers are disposed in a field of view of the tracking device.

11. The method of claim 8 ,
wherein the at least one of real object comprises a surgical port, and
wherein the at least one preregistered virtual object in the virtual image comprises a virtual image of the surgical port.

12. The method of claim 10 , using the processor, programmed with a set of instructions, further comprising:
receiving input specifying at least one of translating, rotating, skewing, and scaling the virtual object in the coordinate frame of the surgical navigation system to align the at least one virtual object with the corresponding at least one real object in the coordinate frame of the surgical navigation system;
re-registering the at least one virtual object, thereby providing at least one re-registered virtual object;
storing the at least one re-registered virtual object in the coordinate frame of the surgical navigation system; and
assigning the at least one re-registered virtual object as at least one previously registered virtual object.

13. The method of claim 10 ,
wherein, in the event of a misalignment between the at least one virtual object and the at least one corresponding real object at a pre-selected time, performing at least one of translating, rotating, skewing, and scaling of the at least one virtual object in the coordinate frame of the surgical navigation system to align the at least one virtual object with the at least one corresponding real object in the coordinate frame of the surgical navigation system and re-registering the at least one virtual object, and
wherein the processor is programmed with instructions to store the at least one re-registered virtual object in the coordinate frame of the surgical navigation system and assigning the at least one re-registered virtual object as the at least one previously registered virtual object.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein acquiring the virtual image comprises using at least one of CT imag

Assignees

• Synaptive Medical Inc

Inventors

• Sela Gal
• Piron Cameron
• Wood Michael
• Richmond Joshua
• Yuwaraj Murugathas
• Mcfadyen Stephen
• Thomas Monroe M
• Hodges Wes
• Alexander Simon
• Gallop David

Classifications

• A61B90/39 Primary

  Markers, e.g. radio-opaque or breast lesions markers · CPC title

• A61B34/10

  Computer-aided planning, simulation or modelling of surgical operations · CPC title

• A61B34/20 Primary

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

• G06T7/248

  involving reference images or patches · CPC title

• G06T7/33

  using feature-based methods · CPC title