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New methods for calibration and tool tracking in ultrasound-guided interventions

University of British Columbia

Ultrasound is a safe, portable, inexpensive and real-time modality that can produce 2D and 3D images. It is a valuable intra-operative imaging modality to guide surgeons aiming to achieve higher accuracy of the intervention and improve patient outcomes. In all the clinical applications that use tracked ultrasound, one main challenge is to precisely locate the ultrasound image pixels with respect to a tracking sensor on the transducer. This process is called spatial calibration and the objective is to determine the spatial transformation between the ultrasound image coordinates and a coordinate system defined by the tracking sensor on the transducer housing. Another issue in ultrasound guided interventions is that tracking surgical tools (for example an epidural needle) usually requires expensive, large optical trackers or low accuracy magnetic trackers and there is a need for a low-cost, easy-to-use and accurate solution. In this thesis, for the first problem I have proposed two novel complementary methods for ultrasound calibration that provide ease of use and high accuracy. These methods are based on my differential technique which enables high measurement accuracy. I developed a closed-form formulation that makes it possible to achieve high accuracy with using a low number of images. For the second problem, I developed a method to track surgical tools (epidural needles in particular) using a single camera mounted on the ultrasound transducer to facilitate ultrasound guided interventions. The first proposed ultrasound calibration method achieved an accuracy of 0.09 ± 0.39 mm. The second method with a much simpler phantom yet achieved similar accuracy compared to the N-wire method. The proposed needle tracking method showed high accuracy of 0.94 ± 0.46 mm.

Text

2015-01-06

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Canada

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/51776

Electrical and Computer Engineering

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ca/