Surgery – Diagnostic testing – Detecting nuclear – electromagnetic – or ultrasonic radiation
Reexamination Certificate
2000-08-22
2004-05-18
Smith, Ruth S. (Department: 3737)
Surgery
Diagnostic testing
Detecting nuclear, electromagnetic, or ultrasonic radiation
C600S427000, C600S429000, C606S130000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06738656
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to computer assisted medical surgery and in particular relates to systems for displaying prerecorded visual images during surgical operations.
Presently available medical imaging techniques such as CAT (Computerized Axial Tomography), MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging), and PET (Position Emission Tomography), are known to be helpful not only for diagnostic purposes, but also for providing assistance during surgery. Prerecorded images may be displayed during surgical operations to provide the surgeon with illustrative reference mappings of pertinent portions of a patient's body.
Tracking systems for monitoring the position of a medical instrument have also been developed for use with image display systems. Generally, as the surgeon moves the medical instrument with respect to the patient's body, associated prerecorded images are displayed responsive to the movement of the instrument. Such tracking systems typically involve either the use of a passive articulated arm attached to the medical instrument, optical detection or ultrasonic detection.
Tracking systems using a passive articulated mechanical arm attached to a medical instrument are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,186,174 and 5,230,623. Generally, as the surgeon moves the surgical instrument with respect to the patient's body, micro recorders at the joints of the articulated arm record the respective amounts of movement of each arm member. The outputs of the micro recorders are processed and the position of the medical instrument with respect to the base of the articulated arm is thereby monitored. One or more prerecorded images are then displayed responsive to the movement of the surgical instrument. Such articulated arm tracking systems, however, require that the instrument be attached to a cumbersome mechanical arm. Also, although free movement of the tip of the arm in three dimensional space may be theoretically possible, the surgeon might experience difficulty positioning the instrument at certain locations and in desired orientations within the body.
Tracking systems using optical detection (video cameras and/or CCDs (Charge Coupled Devices)) have been proposed for monitoring the position of a medical instrument with respect to a reference unit as mentioned in U.S. Pat. No. 5,230,623. Such systems, however, require that the reference unit and the instrument both be within the view of the camera. This not only limits the movement of the surgical staff, but also requires that at least a portion of the medical instrument remain outside the patient's body.
Tracking systems using ultrasonic detection are generally disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,230,623. Such systems, however, are disclosed to be used in a fashion similar to optical detection, i.e., triangulation of transmitted signals. The transmitted signals are sent from one or more senders to associated receiver(s), and the distances travelled by the signals are determined from either timing or amplitude changes. Again, the transmission path must remain unobstructed.
A further shortcoming common to each of the above tracking systems is that the patient must not move during the operation. Although the patient is likely to be generally anesthetized, the patient's body may be inadvertently moved by the surgical staff, or the surgeon may want to move the body for better positioning. If the body is moved after the tracking system has been initialized, then the tracking will be misaligned.
There is a need therefore for a system for monitoring the position of a medical instrument with respect to a patient's body that avoids these and other shortcomings of present devices.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a system for monitoring the position of a medical instrument with respect to a patient's body and for displaying at least one of a plurality of prerecorded images of the body responsive to the position of the medical instrument. The system includes a reference unit, a remote unit, a position characteristic field generator, a field sensor, a position detection unit and an output display.
In one embodiment, the reference unit is secured from movement with respect to at least a portion of the patient's body such that the reference unit is substantially immobile with respect to a target operation site. The remote unit is attached to the medical instrument. The field generator is associated with one of the reference or remote units and generates a position characteristic field, such as a multiplexed magnetic field, in an area including the target operation site. The field sensor is associated with the other of the reference or remote units and is responsive to the presence of the field for producing a sensor output signal representative of the sensed field.
The position detection unit is in communication with the sensor output signal and produces position data representative of the position of the remote unit with respect to the reference unit. The output display unit is in communication with the position detection unit for displaying at least one of the prerecorded images responsive to the position data.
The system further may include a registration unit in communication with a storage unit and the position data. The storage unit stores the plurality of prerecorded images of the body. Each prerecorded image is representative of a planar region within the body such that the plurality of planar regions represented by the prerecorded images ,define a first coordinate system. The registration unit correlates the position data of a second coordinate system (as defined by the position detection unit) with the plurality of prerecorded images of the first coordinate system, and identifies a desired prerecorded image associated with the position of the remote unit with respect to the patient's body.
The invention also relates to a reference unit that is attachable to a patient's head, and a medical instrument, such as an aspirating device, that is adapted to removably receive a position detection unit.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3109588 (1963-11-01), Polhemus
patent: 3614950 (1971-10-01), Rabey
patent: 3644825 (1972-02-01), Davis, Jr. et al.
patent: 3821469 (1974-06-01), Whetstone et al.
patent: 3868565 (1975-02-01), Kuipers
patent: 3983474 (1976-09-01), Kuipers
patent: 4017858 (1977-04-01), Kuipers
patent: 4054881 (1977-10-01), Raab
patent: 4182312 (1980-01-01), Mushabac
patent: 4228799 (1980-10-01), Anichkov et al.
patent: 4256112 (1981-03-01), Kopf et al.
patent: 4262306 (1981-04-01), Renner
patent: 4298874 (1981-11-01), Kuipers
patent: 4314251 (1982-02-01), Raab
patent: 4319136 (1982-03-01), Jinkins
patent: 4328548 (1982-05-01), Crow et al.
patent: 4341220 (1982-07-01), Perry
patent: 4346384 (1982-08-01), Raab
patent: 4506676 (1985-03-01), Duska
patent: 4583538 (1986-04-01), Onik et al.
patent: 4608977 (1986-09-01), Brown
patent: 4613866 (1986-09-01), Blood
patent: 4617925 (1986-10-01), Laitinen
patent: 4618978 (1986-10-01), Cosman
patent: 4638798 (1987-01-01), Shelden et al.
patent: 4642786 (1987-02-01), Hansen
patent: 4651732 (1987-03-01), Frederick
patent: 4659971 (1987-04-01), Suzuki et al.
patent: 4660970 (1987-04-01), Ferrano
patent: 4688037 (1987-08-01), Krieg
patent: 4701049 (1987-10-01), Beckman et al.
patent: 4705395 (1987-11-01), Hageniers
patent: 4705401 (1987-11-01), Addleman et al.
patent: 4706665 (1987-11-01), Gouda
patent: 4709156 (1987-11-01), Murphy et al.
patent: 4710708 (1987-12-01), Rorden et al.
patent: 4722056 (1988-01-01), Roberts et al.
patent: 4723544 (1988-02-01), Moore et al.
patent: 4733969 (1988-03-01), Case et al.
patent: 4737032 (1988-04-01), Addleman et al.
patent: 4737794 (1988-04-01), Jones
patent: 4742356 (1988-05-01), Kuipers
patent: 4742815 (1988-05-01), Ninan et al.
patent: 4743770 (1988-05-01), Lee
patent: 4743771 (1988-05-01), Sacks et al.
patent: 4745290 (1988-05-01), Frankel et al.
patent: 4750487 (1988-06-01), Zanetti
patent: 4753528 (1988-06-01), Hines et al.
patent: 4761072 (1988-08-01), Pryor
patent: 4764016 (1988-08-01), Johansson
Ferre Maurice R.
Jakab Peter D.
Tieman James S.
Dellapenna Michael A.
GE Medical Systems Global Technology Company LLC
McAndrews Held & Malloy Ltd.
Smith Ruth S.
Vogel Peter J.
LandOfFree
Automatic registration system for use with position tracking... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Automatic registration system for use with position tracking..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Automatic registration system for use with position tracking... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3196674