Surgical Navigation System for Catheter-Insertion Procedures

1. Surgical Navigation System for Catheter-Insertion Procedures

• Surgical navigation based on electromagnetic tracking system (EMTS) assists catheter-insertion procedures including the epiduroscopy.

 

• Optical tracking system (OTS) is a tracking modality which has higher accuracy and reliability than the EMTS.

 

• To compensate for inherent tracking inaccuracy of EMTS, the OTS is additionally used in the conventional navigation system.

 

• Transformation between coordinate systems of two tracking modalities is obtained via precise tracker calibration process.

 

• Accurate patient-to-image registration is conducted with use of the OTS.

 

• The OTS-based registration result with precise calibration result improves the accuracy of the conventional EMTS-based navigation system.

2. Compensation for Navigation Inaccuracy with 2D-3D Registration

• Registration of preoperative CT model to intraoperative fluoroscopic images improves the navigation accuracy.

 

• C-arm calibration is required for quantitative use of C-arm image in 2D-3D registration.

 

• C-arm is modeled as a pinhole camera and then intrinsic parameters are derived via calibration process.

 

• For intraoperative use of the proposed method, the conventional 2D-3D registration algorithm should be simplified and modified for the procedure-specific purposes.