Surgical assistance system and surgical assistance device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2025268454-A1
Application number	US-202318857810-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 8, 2023
Priority date	Apr 18, 2022
Publication date	Aug 28, 2025
Grant date	—

Abstract

An object is to provide a surgery support system that can ensure a better field. The object can be achieved by a surgery support system including a surgical assistance device, an image processing unit, and a display unit. The image capturing units are configured such that a plurality of image capturing units are provided to the surgical assistance device, the image capturing units captures an image so that inside of the body cavity appears in the image, and when the treatment tool is inserted in the body cavity, the image capturing units captures an image so that the inside of the body cavity including the treatment tool appears in the image, and the image processing unit is configured to synthesize images obtained from image capturing units to generate synthesized image, and perform an obstructing object removal process of removing at least a part of image of the treatment tool.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A surgery support system comprising:
a surgical assistance device configured to assist use of a treatment tool inserted into a body cavity and having image capturing units configured to capture images inside the body cavity; an image processing unit configured to process images obtained from the image capturing units; and a display unit configured to display image data image-processed by the image processing unit, wherein the image capturing units are configured such that a plurality of image capturing units are provided to the surgical assistance device, each of the image capturing units captures an image so that inside of the body cavity appears in the image, and when the treatment tool is inserted in the body cavity, any of the image capturing units captures an image so that the inside of the body cavity including the treatment tool appears in the image, and wherein the image processing unit is configured to synthesize images obtained from respective image capturing units to generate a synthesized image, and perform an obstructing object removal process of removing at least a part of an image of the treatment tool.

2 . The surgery support system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the treatment tool has a treatment part used for treatment inside the body cavity, and a non-treatment part continuous to the treatment part, and wherein the image processing unit generates an obstructing object removed image by combining at least a position indication image indicating a position of the non-treatment part based on the shape of the non-treatment part, and a hidden-part image that is an image hidden by the non-treatment part.

3 . The surgery support system according to claim 2 , wherein the image processing unit generates the position indication image by performing machine learning on the non-treatment part from training images of the treatment tool.

4 . The surgery support system according to claim 3 , wherein the position indication image is an image indicating a contour of the non-treatment part.

5 . The surgery support system according to claim 1 further comprising an autofocus unit configured to adjust focal distances of the image capturing units individually.

6 . The surgery support system according to claim 1 further comprising a depth estimation unit configured to estimate a depth to a point of interest inside the body cavity.

7 . A surgery support device comprising: an image processing unit configured to process images obtained from a plurality of image capturing units of a surgical assistance device configured to assist use of a treatment tool inserted into a body cavity,
wherein the surgery support device synthesizes the images obtained from respective image capturing units to generate a synthesized image, and performs an obstructing object removal process of removing at least a part of an image of the treatment tool.

8 . A program used in the surgery support system according to claim 1 .

9 . The surgery support system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the surgical assistance device includes holding parts and a base member, the holding parts holding the image capturing units, respectively, wherein the base member is formed in a tube-like shape, and the image capturing units are attached to the base member through the holding parts, wherein three or more of the image capturing units are provided, and each of the image capturing units is arranged so as to be directed to outside of the base member at an angle of 0 degree to 10 degrees, and wherein each of the holding parts is formed so as to penetrate through the base member.

10 . The surgery support system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the treatment tool has
a treatment part used for treatment inside the body cavity, and
a non-treatment part continuous to the treatment part, and
wherein the image processing unit is configured to select and perform any of
an obstructing object removal process of removing the entire treatment tool, and
an obstructing object removal process of removing only the non-treatment part.

11 . The surgery support device according to claim 7 ,
wherein the surgical assistance device includes holding parts and a base member, the holding parts holding the image capturing units, respectively, wherein the base member is formed in a tube-like shape, and the image capturing units are attached to the base member through the holding parts, wherein three or more of the image capturing units are provided, and each of the image capturing units is arranged so as to be directed to outside of the base member at an angle of 0 degree to 10 degrees, and wherein each of the holding parts is formed so as to penetrate through the base member.

12 . The surgery support device according to claim 7 ,
wherein the treatment tool has
a treatment part used for treatment inside the body cavity, and
a non-treatment part continuous to the treatment part, and
wherein the image processing unit is configured to select and perform any of
an obstructing object removal process of removing the entire treatment tool, and
an obstructing object removal process of removing only the non-treatment part.

13 . The surgery support system according to claim 2 further comprising an autofocus unit configured to adjust focal distances of the image capturing units individually.

14 . The surgery support system according to claim 3 further comprising an autofocus unit configured to adjust focal distances of the image capturing units individually.

15 . The surgery support system according to claim 4 further comprising an autofocus unit configured to adjust focal distances of the image capturing units individually.

16 . The surgery support system according to claim 2 further comprising a depth estimation unit configured to estimate a depth to a point of interest inside the body cavity.

17 . The surgery support system according to claim 3 further comprising a depth estimation unit configured to estimate a depth to a point of interest inside the body cavity.

18 . The surgery support system according to claim 4 further comprising a depth estimation unit configured to estimate a depth to a point of interest inside the body cavity.

19 . A program used in the surgery support system according to claim 2 .

20 . A program used in the surgery support device according to claim 7 .

Assignees

• National Univ Corporation Tokai National Higher Education And Research System
• Nagoya Denki Educational Found

Inventors

• Nakamura Shota
• Yoshikawa Toyofumi
• Kitasaka Takayuki
• Hayashi Yuichiro
• Mori Kensaku

Classifications

• A61B1/00194

  adapted for three-dimensional imaging · CPC title

• A61B1/00188

  with focusing or zooming features · CPC title

• A61B1/0684

  using light emitting diodes [LED] · CPC title

• A61B1/0676

  at distal tip of an endoscope · CPC title

• A61B1/05

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