APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR FOUR DIMENSIONAL SOFT TISSUE NAVIGATION INCLUDING ENDOSCOPIC MAPPING
A surgical instrument navigation system is provided that visually simulates a virtual volumetric scene of a body cavity of a patient from a point of view of a surgical instrument residing in the cavity of the patient. The surgical instrument navigation system includes: a surgical instrument; an imaging device which is operable to capture scan data representative of an internal region of interest within a given patient; a tracking subsystem that employs electro-magnetic sensing to capture in real-time position data indicative of the position of the surgical instrument; a data processor which is operable to render a volumetric, perspective image of the internal region of interest from a point of view of the surgical instrument; and a display which is operable to display the volumetric perspective image of the patient.
1 . A method of constructing a three-dimensional model of an airway or vessel of a patient comprising correlating a three-dimensional location of instrument at an internal position of the patient with image data collected in conjunction with a patient tracking device disposed on an external position of the patient.
2 . The method of claim 1 wherein the construction comprises recording three-dimensional location of an instrument and corresponding EBUS video or images to construct a three-dimensional model of the patient's airway or a lesion therein.
3 . The method of claim 1 wherein the construction comprises recording three-dimensional location and corresponding IVUS video or images to construct a three-dimensional model of the patient's vessel or a plaque therein.
4 . The method of claim 1 wherein the construction comprises recording three-dimensional location and corresponding OCT images to construct a three-dimensional model of the patient's vessel or a plaque therein.
5 . The method of claim 1 wherein the construction comprises the use of a fiber optic localization (FDL) device disposed on an instrument positioned within an airway or vessel of the patient and further comprises generating localization information and shape sensing information and applying an algorithm to said localization and shape sensing information to determine the location and orientation of the instrument within the patient.
6 . A system or apparatus comprising one or more components for carrying out one or more elements of the method of any of claims 1 - 5 .
7 . A non-transitory processor-readable medium storing code representing instructions to cause a processor to perform a process, the code comprising code to carry out one or more elements of the method of any of claims 1 - 5 .