C-arm angle measurement with accelerometer for brachytherapy: an accuracy study

Abstract

The accelerometer provided better results than the built-in sensor and image-based tracking. The accelerometer sensor is small, inexpensive, covers the full rotation range of the C-arm, does not require line of sight, and can be easily installed to any mobile X-ray machine. Therefore, accelerometer tilt sensing is a very promising applicant for orientation angle tracking of C-arm fluoroscopes.

Single-camera visual odometry to track a surgical X-ray C-arm base

“…Although different off-line C-arm joint-tracking systems have been reported in the literature, 1–5 optical-based systems are costly and require a large field-of-view if the C-arm is moved in and out of the surgical field to maintain the line-of sight between the tracking device and the markers attached to the C-arm. This is very cumbersome considering the other surgical instruments in the operating theater.…”

“…The base-tracking system can benefit C-arm tracking systems in two ways. The accelerometer-based systems 2,5 are limited to a stationary base and can be further improved by incorporating such a base-tracking module. The optically based joint-tracking systems operate based on an external optical navigation systems.…”

“…The proposed system will be employed in two possible scenarios. (1) Base-tracking is used in conjunction with a C-arm fine-tracking system; 2,4,5 after a long-range (∼4 m) movement of the C-arm, the base-tracking would only be responsible for coarse-tracking. In other words, the performance of the base-tracking system is considered successful if the C-arm can be tracked back to its original place (within the imaging area window).…”