A non-radiological technique for the real time imaging of endoscopes in 3 dimensions

Author

Bladen, J.S. ; Anderson, A.P. ; Bell, G.D. ; Heatley, D.J.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electron. & Electr. Eng., Sheffield Univ., UK

fYear

1993

fDate

31 Oct-6 Nov 1993

Firstpage

1891

Abstract

A system for mapping, in real time, the three dimensional path of a medical endoscope is described. The system, which may be used with existing endoscopes, generates weak magnetic fields (~10 μT) within the patient which are detected in the endoscope by an array of miniature magnetic field sensors. The signals from the sensors are processed by a specially devised novel algorithm in the host computer to determine the position and orientation of each sensor. This data is used to display to the endoscopist, in three dimensions, the path of the endoscope on a computer screen, with facilities for image rotation and zoom. The system may be run continuously throughout the examination procedure with no known risk to the patient or endoscopist. Clinical trials have been carried out which clearly show the advantages of the system, including reduced examination time and patient discomfort

Keywords

biomagnetism; biomedical equipment; magnetic field measurement; medical image processing; 10 muT; 3D real time imaging; host computer algorithm; image rotation; image zoom; medical endoscope 3D path; nonradiological technique; reduced examination time; reduced patient discomfort; weak magnetic fields generation; Biomedical imaging; Clinical trials; Computer displays; Endoscopes; Magnetic sensors; Real time systems; Sensor arrays; Sensor systems; Signal processing; Three dimensional displays;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging Conference, 1993., 1993 IEEE Conference Record.

Conference_Location

San Francisco, CA

Print_ISBN

0-7803-1487-5

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/NSSMIC.1993.373622

Filename

373622