Method and apparatus for automated registration and pose tracking

1. A method for registering an anatomical region with a scanned image of the anatomical region, the method comprising:

pressing a mouldable appliance against a surface of the anatomical region or a facsimile thereof to shape the mouldable appliance to conform to a surface geometry of the anatomical region to provide an intermediate appliance;

hardening the intermediate appliance to retain an appliance geometry shaped to mate with the surface geometry of the anatomical region to provide the formed appliance wherein the formed appliance resists deformation;

providing a fiducial body attached to the formed appliance such that the fiducial body is rigidly fixed to the formed appliance and is configured to be scannable to provide a three-dimensional volume representation of the fiducial body distinguishable from a three-dimensional volume representation of the anatomical region and the fiducial body being shaped and attached to the formed appliance such that the orientation of the fiducial body is uniquely determinable based at least in part on a degree of asymmetry of the fiducial body;

attaching the formed appliance with the fiducial body attached thereto to the anatomical region such that when attached to the anatomical region the formed appliance resists displacement relative to the anatomical region;

scanning the anatomical region with the formed appliance attached thereto and the fiducial body attached to the formed appliance to obtain a three-dimensional volume representation of at least a part of the fiducial body and an interior of the anatomical region in a scanned image;

segmenting the part of the fiducial body in the three-dimensional volume representation of the at least a part of the fiducial body in the scanned image to obtain a segmented fiducial body region;

aligning the segmented fiducial body region with a reference model of the fiducial body to obtain a mapping transformation; and

operating a data processor to map locations in an interior of the anatomical region to corresponding locations in the three-dimensional volume representation of the interior of the anatomical region based on the mapping transformation.

2. The method as defined in claim 1 , further comprising, when the formed appliance is mated with the surface of the anatomical region, positioning an instrument to point to locations in the interior of the anatomical region, operating a pose-tracking apparatus to measure the pose of the instrument relative to the fiducial body, and operating a data processor to mark the locations pointed to by the instrument on the three-dimensional volume representation of the interior of the anatomical region based on the mapping transformation.

3. The method as defined in claim 2 wherein the formed appliance is separated from the anatomical region following the scanning and repositioned to mate its surface prior to positioning the instrument.

4. The method as defined in claim 2 , further comprising:

providing at least one trackable marker, wherein the at least one trackable marker is attached to the fiducial body; and

wherein the spatial relationship of the at least one trackable marker to the reference model of the fiducial body is stored in a format accessible to the data processor; and

the data processor uses this spatial relationship in marking the locations.

5. The method as defined in claim 2 , wherein after operating the tracking apparatus to determine the pose of the trackable marker attached to the fiducial body attached to the anatomical region, the method further comprises detaching the at least one trackable marker from the fiducial body and re-attaching the at least one trackable marker to a different fiducial body, the different fiducial body being attached to a different formed appliance having a different appliance geometry shaped to mate with a different surface geometry of at least a portion of a different anatomical region.

6. The method as defined in claim 1 wherein the aligning of the segmented fiducial body region with a reference model of the fiducial body to obtain a mapping transformation comprises operating a data processor to execute an algorithm for registration of volume-occupying regions.

7. The method as defined in claim 4 wherein the trackable marker is attached to the fiducial body following the scanning and prior to positioning the instrument.

8. The method as defined in claim 1 , wherein, the fiducial body comprises aluminum or titanium, and canning the anatomical region with the formed appliance attached thereto comprises CT scanning of the anatomical region with the formed appliance attached thereto.

9. The method as defined in claim 1 wherein

the mouldable appliance comprises a thermoplastic sheet; and

pressing the mouldable appliance against the anatomical region or a model of the anatomical region to shape the mouldable appliance to conform to the surface geometry of the anatomical region to provide the intermediate appliance comprises heating the mouldable appliance to render it soft and malleable and then pressing the thermoplastic sheet against the anatomical region or the model of the anatomical region.

10. The method as defined in claim 1 , wherein attaching the formed appliance with the fiducial body attached thereto to the anatomical region precedes attaching the at least one trackable marker to the fiducial body.

11. The method as defined in claim 1 , wherein

the anatomical region comprises human jaw;

pressing a mouldable appliance against the anatomical region or a model of the anatomical region to shape the mouldable appliance to conform to a surface geometry of the anatomical region to provide an intermediate appliance comprises placing a mouldable appliance around the human teeth or a facsimile of the human teeth to conform to the surface geometry of the human teeth to provide an intermediate appliance; and

hardening the intermediate appliance to retain the appliance geometry shaped to mate with the surface geometry of the anatomical region to provide the formed appliance comprises hardening the intermediate appliance to retain the appliance geometry shaped to mate with the surface geometry of the human teeth to provide the formed appliance.

12. The method as defined in claim 1 , wherein the fiducial body has a plurality of symmetrical orientations, and wherein aligning the segmented fiducial body region with a reference model of the fiducial body comprises obtaining an approximate orientation of the anatomical region in the three-dimensional volume representation and selecting one of the symmetrical orientations based on the approximate orientation.

13. The method as defined in claim 1 , wherein the fiducial body is asymmetrical such that any one orientation of the fiducial body is distinguishable from any other orientation of the fiducial body due to the asymmetry.

14. An apparatus for registering an anatomical region with a scanned image of the anatomical region, the apparatus comprising:

a mouldable appliance configured for moulding into a formed appliance having an appliance geometry shaped to mate with a surface geometry of at least a portion of the anatomical region, wherein the formed appliance resists deformation and when attached to the anatomical region, the formed appliance resists displacement relative to the anatomical region; and

a fiducial body, the fiducial body being attached to the mouldable appliance and shaped such that an orientation of the fiducial body relative the anatomical region is uniquely determinable, and wherein when the mouldable appliance is moulded into the formed appliance, the fiducial body becomes rigidly fixed to the formed appliance such that the fiducial body is in a fixed spatial relationship with the formed appliance, wherein at least part of the fiducial body is detectable to a scanner conducting a scan of the anatomical region to provide a three-dimensional volume representation of the fiducial body in a scanned image.

15. The apparatus according to claim 14 , wherein the apparatus further comprises at least one trackable marker, wherein the at least one trackable marker is attachable to the fiducial body at an attachment location such that when the at least one trackable marker is attached to the fiducial body at the attachment location a spatial relationship of the at least one trackable marker to the fiducial body is fixed.

16. The apparatus according to claim 15 , wherein the at least one trackable marker is configured to be detachable from the fiducial body and re-attachable to a different fiducial body.

17. The apparatus according to claim 14 wherein the fiducial body comprises a scan detectable material for enabling the at least part of the fiducial body to be detectable by the scanner conducting a scan such that upon scanning the anatomical region with the formed appliance attached thereto and the fiducial body attached to the formed appliance to provide the scanned image, the interior of the anatomical region underlying the formed appliance is distinguishable from the fiducial body in the scanned image.

18. The apparatus according to claim 14 , wherein the fiducial body comprises aluminum or titanium for enabling the fiducial body to be detectable by the scanner conducting a CT scan, such that upon scanning the anatomical region with the formed appliance attached thereto and fiducial body attached to the formed appliance to provide the scanned image, the interior of the anatomical region underlying the formed appliance is distinguishable from the fiducial body in a CT scanned image.

19. The apparatus according to claim 14 , wherein the mouldable appliance comprises a thermoplastic sheet, the thermoplastic sheet being configured to become soft and malleable upon heating to a transition temperature such that the thermoplastic sheet, when rendered soft and malleable by heating to the transition temperature, is pressable against the anatomical region to obtain the appliance geometry without injuring the anatomical region or causing pain when pressed against the anatomical region due either to a force of pressing or the heated thermoplastic sheet being at the transition temperature.

20. The apparatus according to claim 19 , wherein the thermoplastic sheet is formed of a PolyForm® material such that the thermoplastic sheet is configured to become soft and malleable upon being heated to the transition temperature.

21. The apparatus according to claim 14 , wherein the fiducial body is configured to be asymmetrical in shape such that any one orientation of the fiducial body is distinguishable from any other orientation of the fiducial body due to the asymmetry.

22. The apparatus according to claim 14 , wherein the fiducial body is configured to have a plurality of symmetrical orientations such that one of the symmetric orientations is uniquely distinguishable based on the spatial relationship between the fiducial body and the anatomical region.