Small Business-ERC Collaborative Opportunity: In-Situ Information Display for Ultrasound Guided Interventions

图像引导是医学上每年数百万次介入手术的关键使能技术。活组织检查、消融手术、基于能量的治疗以及微创和开放手术都依赖于成像的实时反馈，以便安全有效地进行。在目前的实践中，这种反馈主要由超声(US)提供，因为它以低成本提供安全、实时的成像。然而，超声的图像质量往往很差，很难管理，特别是对于需要高精度的干预措施。这些问题导致许多研究小组和几家公司研究增强图像制导的方法。这项提案的愿景是通过一种创新的、低成本的、独立的导航设备来推进超声引导的癌症治疗，该设备正在由Clear Guide Medical LLC开发，Clear Guide Medical LLC是从Cisst ERC剥离出来的一家小企业。所提出的装置将使系统能够对术前诊断图像执行动态配准。其结果将是一个“身体GPS”系统，它能够在“身体坐标”中定位探测器。该平台将被进一步开发，以通过实时的患者目标显示来提供目标信息。主要目标是：1)开发算法来校准系统的元素；2)通过结构光立体提供患者的表面表示；3)开发用于患者目标显示的投影模式；以及4)在模拟活检环境中评估所产生的投影方法。目标1和目标2将与CISST ERC合作执行；而目标3和4将由Clear Guide Medical领导。CISST ERC的核心研究重点之一是开发经皮治疗的新技术(即通过针刺皮肤获得内部器官或其他组织的医疗程序，而不是通过暴露内部器官或组织的“开放”方法)。为了创造一种可行的设备，有必要将计算机视觉和超声成像中的先进方法与新的患者靶向显示方法相结合。该项目团队由Clear Guide Medical工程主管兼超声系统专家Pi Stolka和紧凑型计算成像系统专家ERC Pi Etienne-Cummings领导。他们得到了超声成像和图像引导专家联席PI Boctor和Clear Guide Medical首席执行官兼计算机视觉专家联席PI Hager的协助。

Image guidance is a key enabling technology for millions of interventional procedures annually in medicine. Biopsies, ablative procedures, energy-based therapies, as well as minimally invasive and open procedures all rely on real-time feedback from imaging in order to be performed safely and effectively. In current practice, this feedback is predominantly provided by ultrasound (US) as it offers safe, real-time imaging for low cost. However, ultrasound often has poor image quality and is difficult to manage, particularly for interventions requiring high precision. These issues have led many research groups and several companies to investigate methods for enhanced image guidance. The vision of this proposal is to advance ultrasound-guided cancer therapy with an innovative, low-cost, and self-contained navigation device which is being developed by Clear Guide Medical LLC, a small business spun out of the CISST ERC. The proposed device will enable the system to perform dynamic registration to a preoperative diagnostic image. The result will be a "Body GPS" system that is able to localize the probe in "body coordinates." This platform will then be further developed to provided targeting information via real-time, on patient targeting display.The principle objectives are: 1) to develop algorithms to calibrate the elements of the system; 2) to provide surface representations of the patient via structured light stereo; 3) to develop projection modes for on-patient targeting display; and 4) to evaluate the resulting projection methods in a simulated biopsy environment. Objectives 1 and 2 will be performed in collaboration with the CISST ERC; while objectives 3 and 4 will be led by Clear Guide Medical.One of the core research thrusts of the CISST ERC is the development of new technologies for percutaneous therapy (that is medical procedures where access to inner organs or other tissue is done via needle-puncture of the skin, rather than by using an "open" approach where inner organs or tissue are exposed). To create a viable device, it will be necessary to combine advanced methods in computer vision and ultrasound imaging with new methods for on-patient targeting display. The project team is led by PI Stolka, the head of engineering for Clear Guide Medical and an expert on ultrasound systems, and ERC PI Etienne-Cummings, and expert on compact computational imaging system. They are assisted by co-PI Boctor, an expert in ultrasound imaging and image guidance and co-PI Hager, CEO of Clear Guide Medical and an expert in computer vision.