Co-Planar Stereotaxic Atlas of the Human Brain—3-Dimensional Proportional System: An Approach to Cerebral Imaging, J. Talairach, P. Tournoux. Georg Thieme Verlag, New York (1988), 122 pp., 130 figs. DM 268

A robotic catheter system includes a controller with a master input device. An instrument driver is in communication with the controller and has a guide instrument interface including a plurality of guide instrument drive elements responsive to control signals generated, at least in part, by the master input device. An elongate guide instrument has a base, distal end, and a working lumen, wherein the guide instrument base is operatively coupled to the guide instrument interface. The guide instrument includes a plurality of guide instrument control elements operatively coupled to respective guide drive elements and secured to the distal end of the guide instrument. The guide instrument control elements are axially moveable relative to the guide instrument such that movement of the guide instrument distal end may be controlled by the master input device.

Robotic catheter system

A method and apparatus for defining the location of a medical instrument relative to features of a medical workspace including a patient's body region are described. Pairs of two-dimensional images are obtained, preferably by means of two video cameras making images of the workspace along different sightlines which intersect. A fiducial structure is positioned in the workspace for defining a three dimensional coordinate framework, and a calibration image pair is made. The calibration image pair comprises two 2D projections from different locations of the fiducial structure. After the calibration image pair is made, the fiducial structure is removed. A standard projection algorithm is used to reconstruct the 3D framework of the fiducial structure from the calibration image pair. Appropriate image pairs can then be used to locate and track any other feature such as a medical instrument, in the workspace, so long as the cameras remain fixed in their positions relative to the workspace. The computations are desirably performed with a computer workstation including computer graphics capability, image processing capability, and providing a real-time display of the workspace as imaged by the video cameras. Also, the 3D framework of the workspace can be aligned with the 3D framework of any selected volume scan, such as MRI, CT, or PET, so that the instrument can be localized and guided to a chosen feature. No guidance arc or other apparatus need be affixed to the patient to accomplish the tracking and guiding operations.

Apparatus and method for photogrammetric surgical localization

Spatial registration of multichannel multi-subject fNIRS data to MNI space without MRI.

https://www.sci.utah.edu/publications/But2007c/Butson_NeuroImage2007.pdf

Patient-specific analysis of the volume of tissue activated during deep brain stimulation

We propose a methodology that incorporates k-means and improved watershed segmentation algorithm for medical image segmentation. The use of the conventional watershed algorithm for medical image analysis is widespread because of its advantages, such as always being able to produce a complete division of the image. However, its drawbacks include over-segmentation and sensitivity to false edges. We address the drawbacks of the conventional watershed algorithm when it is applied to medical images by using k-means clustering to produce a primary segmentation of the image before we apply our improved watershed segmentation algorithm to it. The k-means clustering is an unsupervised learning algorithm, while the improved watershed segmentation algorithm makes use of automated thresholding on the gradient magnitude map and post-segmentation merging on the initial partitions to reduce the number of false edges and over-segmentation. By comparing the number of partitions in the segmentation maps of 50 images, we showed that our proposed methodology produced segmentation maps which have 92% fewer partitions than the segmentation maps produced by the conventional watershed algorithm

Medical Image Segmentation Using K-Means Clustering and Improved Watershed Algorithm

OBJECTIVE:To report our experience with preoperative neurosurgical planning in our stereoscopic virtual reality environment for 21 patients with intra- and extra-axial brain tumors and vascular malformations.METHODS:A neurosurgical planning system called VIVIAN (V irtual I ntracranial Vi sualization

Planning and simulation of neurosurgery in a virtual reality environment.

This invention provides a system and method for computer simulation of image-guided diagnostic and therapeutic procedures such as vascular catheterization, angioplasty, stent, coil and graft placement, embolotherapy and drug infusion therapy. In a particularly preferred aspect, the system is configured to resemble a cardiovascular catheterization laboratory where interventional radiology procedures are performed. A first user can interactively manipulate therapeutic catheters, guidewires and other medical devices in real-time while viewing patient-specific medical image data sets in a manner similar to that encountered in a clinical procedure.

Simulation system for image-guided medical procedures

Creating a report from a radiological image using an electronic report template, the radiological image being an image of an anatomic region and the report template initially having empty fields includes displaying the radiological image on a screen of a workstation; providing a structural template, the structural template being a map of a reference region that corresponds to the anatomical region, t structural template identifying a plurality of anatomical landmarks each associated with corresponding landmark data; fitting the structural template with the radiological image such that the anatomical landmarks match corresponding anatomical landmarks of the radiological image; using the fitting to generate pathological data indicative of a pathology in one or more of the anatomical landmark and using the landmark data and pathological data to populate the empty field of the report template to thereby create the report.

Method for creating a report from radiological images using electronic report templates

For the purpose of developing multiple, complementary, fully labeled electronic brain atlases and an atlas-based neuroimaging system for analysis, quantification, and real-time manipulation of cerebral structures in two and three dimensions, we have digitized, enhanced, segmented, and labeled the following print brain atlases: Co-Planar Stereotaxic Atlas of the Human Brain by Talairach and Tournoux, Atlas for Stereotaxy of the Human Brain by Schaltenbrand and Wahren, Referentially Oriented Cerebral MRI Anatomy by Talairach and Tournoux, and Atlas of the Cerebral Sulci by Ono, Kubik, and Abernathey. Three-dimensional extensions of these atlases have been developed as well. All two- and three-dimensional atlases are mutually preregistered and may be interactively registered with an actual patient's data. An atlas-based neuroimaging system has been developed that provides support for reformatting, registration, visualization, navigation, image processing, and quantification of clinical data. The anatomical index contains about 1,000 structures and over 400 sulcal patterns. Several new applications of the brain atlas database also have been developed, supported by various technologies such as virtual reality, the Internet, and electronic publishing. Fusion of information from multiple atlases assists the user in comprehensively understanding brain structures and identifying and quantifying anatomical regions in clinical data. The multiple brain atlas database and atlas-based neuroimaging system have substantial potential impact in stereotactic neurosurgery and radiotherapy by assisting in visualization and real-time manipulation in three dimensions of anatomical structures, in quantitative neuroradiology by allowing interactive analysis of clinical data, in three-dimensional neuroeducation, and in brain function studies.

Wieslaw L. Nowinski

Papers

Medical Image Segmentation Using K-Means Clustering and Improved Watershed Algorithm

Planning and simulation of neurosurgery in a virtual reality environment.

Simulation system for image-guided medical procedures

Method for creating a report from radiological images using electronic report templates

Multiple Brain Atlas Database and Atlas-Based Neuroimaging System