Ultrasound simulation
Disclosed is a method of simulating an ultrasound scan of tissue in real-time. The method comprises loading a three dimensional deformable soft tissue model of a tissue region for scanning, the deformable soft tissue model being a volumetric model and determining a three dimensional interaction between the deformable soft tissue model and at least one medical tool. The method also comprises modifying the deformable soft tissue model according to the three dimensional interaction and properties of the deformable soft tissue model, the properties including compressible and incompressible regions of the deformable soft tissue model and generating a simulated scan of the tissue in real-time according to a position of an ultrasound probe and the modified soft tissue model.
1 . A method of simulating an ultrasound scan of tissue in real-time, the method comprising:
loading a three dimensional deformable soft tissue model of a tissue region for scanning, the deformable soft tissue model being a volumetric model simulated using soft body dynamics,
wherein the deformable soft tissue model includes a plurality of particles and each of the plurality of particles are linked using at least one constraint,
wherein a first particle of the plurality of particles is linked to a second particle of the plurality of particles of the deformable soft tissue model using the at least one constraint and particles in a compressible region of the deformable soft tissue model are connected to adjacent particles with distance constraints and particle in an incompressible region of the deformable soft tissue model are connected to adjacent particles with volume constraints;
determining a three dimensional interaction between the deformable soft tissue model and at least one virtual medical tool, the at least one virtual medical tool being inserted into the tissue region;
deforming the deformable soft tissue model according to the three dimensional interaction and properties of the deformable soft tissue model, the properties including compressible and incompressible regions of the deformable soft tissue model; and
generating a simulated scan of the tissue in real-time according to a position of an ultrasound probe and the modified soft tissue model.
2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the deformable soft tissue model comprises a mesh and each of the plurality of particles are located at vertices of the mesh.
3 . The method according to claim 2 , wherein a voxel model overlaps the deformable soft tissue model and is used to derive continuously varying material properties of the deformable soft tissue model.
4 . The method according to claim 1 ,
wherein the at least one constraint is selected from the set consisting of a distance constraint, a volume constraint and a contact constraint.
5 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein a model of the virtual medical tool includes a plurality of particles and a particle of the plurality of particles is linked to a particle of the plurality of particles of the deformable soft tissue model using at least one constraint,
wherein the at least one constraint is selected from the set consisting of a distance constraint, a volume constraint and a contact constraint.
6 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein modifying the deformable soft tissue model comprises:
locating particles of the deformable soft tissue model nearby the virtual medical tool;
attaching a plurality of particles of the deformable soft tissue model to a plurality of particles of the virtual medical tool using constraints; and
determining a new location for the plurality of particles of the deformable soft tissue model and a new location for the plurality of particles of the virtual medical tool base on movement of the virtual medical tool.
7 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one virtual medical tool is selected from a set of virtual medical tools consisting of a hypodermic needle, a cannula, a scalpel, sutures, dressing, and forceps.
8 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the modification to the deformable soft tissue model is performed by an extended position based dynamics (XPBD) solver.
9 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein generating the simulated scan further comprises:
forming an image slice using material properties of the virtual medical tool and the properties of the deformable soft tissue model, wherein the material properties of the virtual medical tool produce acoustic anomalies associated with the virtual medical tool.
10 . A virtual ultrasound system for simulating an ultrasound scan of tissue in real-time, the system comprising:
a deformable soft tissue model of a tissue region, the deformable soft tissue model being a volumetric model simulated using soft body dynamics,
wherein the deformable soft tissue model includes a plurality of particles and each of the plurality of particles are linked using at least one constraint, wherein a first particle of the plurality of particles is linked to a second particle of the plurality of particles of the deformable soft tissue model using the at least one constraint,
wherein the at least one constraint is selected from the set consisting of a distance constraint, a volume constraint and a contact constraint and particles in a compressible region of the deformable soft tissue model are connected to adjacent particles with distance constraints and particle in an incompressible region of the deformable soft tissue model are connected to adjacent particles with volume constraints;
a model of at least one virtual medical tool;
a position based dynamics solver configured to determine a three dimensional interaction between the deformable soft tissue model and the model of the at least one virtual medical tool, when the at least one virtual medical tool is inserted in to the tissue region, in real-time, the position based dynamics solver also being configured to deform the deformable soft tissue model according to the three dimensional interaction and properties of the deformable soft tissue model,
wherein the properties include compressible and incompressible regions of the deformable soft tissue model;
an acoustic simulator configured to generate a simulated scan of the tissue according to a position of an ultrasound probe and the modified soft tissue model; and
an output device for displaying the simulated scan of the tissue.
11 . The virtual ultrasound system according to claim 10 , wherein the deformable soft tissue model comprises a mesh and each of the plurality of particles are located at a vertices of the mesh.
12 . The virtual ultrasound system according to claim 11 , wherein a voxel model overlaps the deformable soft tissue model and is used to derive continuously varying material properties of the deformable soft tissue model.
13 . The virtual ultrasound system according to claim 10 , wherein a model of the virtual medical tool includes a plurality of particles and a particle of the plurality of particles of the model of the virtual medical tool is linked to a particle of the plurality of particles of the deformable soft tissue model using at least one constraint,
wherein the at least one constraint is selected from the set consisting of a distance constraint, a volume constraint and a contact constraint.
14 . The virtual ultrasound system according to claim 10 , wherein the virtual medical tool is selected from a set of medical tools consisting of a hypodermic needle, a cannula, a scalpel, sutures, dressing, and forceps.
15 . The virtual ultrasound system according to claims 10 , wherein the position based dynamics solver is an extended position based dynamics (XPBD) solver.
16 . The virtual ultrasound system according to claim 10 , wherein the acoustic simulator further comprises:
an image slice generator configured to form an image slice using material properties of the virtual medical tool and the properties of the deformable soft tissue model, wherein the material properties of the virtual medical tool produce acoustic anomalies associated with the virtual medical tool.