US 11,986,339 B2
Tracking an interventional device within an ultrasound image plane
Mischa Megens, Utrecht (NL); Hendrik Roelof Stapert, Eindhoven (NL); Mustafa Hakan Gokgurler, Helmond (NL); Stefan Van De Pas, Herten (NL); Jeroen Kortsmit, Son en Breugel (NL); Franciscus Hendrikus Van Heesch, Valkenswaard (NL); Harm Jan Willem Belt, Weert (NL); Ameet Kumar Jain, Boston, MA (US); and Kunal Vaidya, Boston, MA (US)
Assigned to KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS N.V., Eindhoven (NL)
Appl. No. 17/266,599
Filed by KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS N.V., Eindhoven (NL)
PCT Filed Aug. 2, 2019, PCT No. PCT/EP2019/070920
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Feb. 7, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/030557, PCT Pub. Date Feb. 13, 2020.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/716,088, filed on Aug. 8, 2018.
Claims priority of application No. 18198801 (EP), filed on Oct. 5, 2018.
Prior Publication US 2021/0307717 A1, Oct. 7, 2021
Int. Cl. A61B 8/08 (2006.01); A61B 8/00 (2006.01); A61B 8/12 (2006.01); A61B 17/34 (2006.01)
CPC A61B 8/0841 (2013.01) [A61B 8/12 (2013.01); A61B 8/4245 (2013.01); A61B 8/4477 (2013.01); A61B 8/4483 (2013.01); A61B 8/5207 (2013.01); A61B 2017/3413 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A system for determining a position of an interventional device, the system comprising:
an image reconstruction processor configured to reconstruct an ultrasound image corresponding to an image plane defined by an ultrasound imaging probe; and
a position determination processor configured to:
receive a model defining an expected variation of in-plane maximum intensity of a signal only as a function of time of flight of the signal, detect a maximum intensity ultrasound signal transmitted between the ultrasound imaging probe and an ultrasound transducer attached to the interventional device and detect an intensity of the maximum intensity ultrasound signal,
compute a lateral position of the ultrasound transducer relative to the image plane based on a time of flight of the maximum intensity ultrasound signal,
search the model in only one dimension to determine an expected in-plane maximum intensity for the maximum intensity ultrasound signal, wherein the one dimension is the time of flight of the maximum intensity ultrasound signal,
compute an out-of-plane distance between the ultrasound transducer and the image plane based on a comparison of the intensity of the maximum intensity ultrasound signal and the expected in-plane maximum intensity for the maximum intensity ultrasound signal,
determine the position of an interventional device relative to the image plane based on the out-of-plane distance and the lateral position, and
indicate the out-of-plane distance in the reconstructed ultrasound image.