US 11,707,204 B2
Method, system and apparatus for image-guided insertion of implant devices
Jeff Stainsby, Toronto (CA); Alexander Gyles Panther, Toronto (CA); Chad Tyler Harris, Toronto (CA); and Cameron Anthony Piron, Toronto (CA)
Assigned to Synaptive Medical Inc.
Appl. No. 15/762,853
Filed by SYNAPTIVE MEDICAL INC., Toronto (CA)
PCT Filed Oct. 6, 2015, PCT No. PCT/IB2015/057643
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Mar. 23, 2018,
PCT Pub. No. WO2017/060753, PCT Pub. Date Apr. 13, 2017.
Prior Publication US 2018/0279904 A1, Oct. 4, 2018
Int. Cl. A61B 5/055 (2006.01); G01R 33/50 (2006.01); G01R 33/56 (2006.01); A61N 1/05 (2006.01); G01R 33/563 (2006.01); A61B 34/20 (2016.01)
CPC A61B 5/055 (2013.01) [G01R 33/50 (2013.01); G01R 33/5608 (2013.01); G01R 33/56341 (2013.01); A61B 34/20 (2016.02); A61N 1/0534 (2013.01)] 18 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of imaging an implant device in a computing device having a processor interconnected with a memory and a display, comprising, at the processor:
obtaining a first pre-operative magnetic resonance (MR) image of a patient tissue, the first pre-operative MR image containing a first magnetic field strength indicator;
after insertion of the implant device in the patient tissue, obtaining a second intra-operative MR image of the patient tissue and the implant device, the second intra-operative MR image containing a second magnetic field strength indicator smaller than the first magnetic field strength indicator;
registering the second intra-operative MR image with the first pre-operative MR image;
generating a composite image from the first pre-operative MR image and the second intra-operative MR image, wherein generating the composite image includes:
for each voxel of the second intra-operative MR image, (i) determining a difference between a value of the voxel and a value of a corresponding voxel of the first pre-operative MR image, (ii) determining whether the difference excedes a threshold and (iii) when the difference exceeds the threshold selecting the voxel of the second intra-operative MR image as indicating a presence of the implant device; and
substituting the selected voxels of the second intra-operative MR image for the corresponding voxels of the first pre-operative MR image; and
presenting thee composite image on the display.