Virtual navigator automatic registration technology in abdominal application

Abstract

Real-time Ultrasound (US) image fusion with a pre-acquired second imaging dataset - Computed Tomography (CT), Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and/or CT/PET - has become widely used in recent years for both diagnosis and image-guided interventional procedures. Liver and kidneys are the main focused anatomical districts, related to abdominal application. There are still nowadays some drawbacks, regarding the adoption of the fusion imaging technique in everyday practice especially regarding its ease of use and the time needed in order to obtain a precise real-time fusion between US and the second imaging modality. The present work is a preliminary study on the feasibility and practical use of an Automatic registration algorithm for CT-US real-time fusion imaging. Data obtained by tests performed on a Doppler phantom, for the assessment of the precision of the registration procedure and in-vivo Automatic registration tests, are presented.

Image-guided thermal ablation of benign thyroid nodules

“…This technique, which is already described during use in the abdomen [107][108][109][110], is still under investigation in neck applications, but appears possibly one of the most relevant recent technical advancements for increasing the success rate and reducing the complications of image-guided ablations in the neck.…”

Comparison of conventional ultrasonography and ultrasonography-computed tomography fusion imaging for target identification using digital/real hybrid phantoms: a preliminary study

“…Realtime reconstruction of CT images in US-CT fusion imaging provided users with more accurate target positions, although the reconstructed CT images could not be completely registered to the US images. Consequently, the accuracy of US-CT fusion imaging could not reach 100 % [12,13]. In our real phantom, the distance between the centers of adjacent spherical structures was 3 cm.…”

“…Therefore, US-CT fusion imaging may require more time overall for target identification than conventional US. This problem has been gradually resolved by the development of automatic registration systems in the US apparatus [12,13]. In the US sessions, the experienced and inexperienced clinicians did not exhibit statistically significant differences in the mean times required for target identification at any of the three depths tested.…”

Expanding role of virtual navigation and fusion imaging in percutaneous biopsies and ablation

“…Thus, one of the main issues that limited the diffusion of fusion imaging to the everyday clinical practice has always been the perception of complexity of the procedure of image fusion and the concerns related to the time consumption of this method. However, recently some methods for automatic registration have been implemented [1,9]. The possibility of achieving automatically a precise fusion among multiple different imaging modalities, thanks to the automatic recognition of internal anatomical structures, such as the vessels, holds the potential of largely reducing the complexity of the fusion procedure and the time required to achieve a precise fusion, and also reducing the variability related to the experience of the operator [9].…”