Systems for localization of targets inside a body

1. An image formation and navigation apparatus, comprising:

a housing assembly comprising a preferred axis physically identifiable by an operator;

an ionizing radiation sensor at least partially enclosed within the housing assembly and disposed towards a distal end of the housing assembly;

an optical tracking camera at least partially enclosed within the housing assembly, the camera having a field of view that overlaps partially with the field of view of the sensor;

a visualization device operably linked to at least one processor and configured to show instantaneous renderings of images, the at least one processor operatively coupled with a memory, the sensor, and the camera, the memory having instructions for execution by the at least one processor configured to:

determine a pose of the camera with respect to an object using an image captured by the camera and, using transformations derived from the camera being rigidly connected with the sensor, determine a spatial position and orientation of the sensor with respect to the object;

associate scanning data from the sensor with the determined spatial position and orientation of the sensor with respect to the object to create registered scans;

create a 3-D map of sources generating signatures measured by the sensor by using at least two registered scans; and

create an image for visualization on the visualization device which is a combination of a rendered image of the 3-D map and an image processed from an image captured by the camera.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the sensor is a collimated gamma imaging sensor with a divergent field of view.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein

the sensor is a gamma imaging sensor which provides spectroscopic and position resolution

the memory having instructions for execution by the at least one processor configured to:

determine a scattering angle around a scattering direction of a gamma ray interacting at least two times in the sensor by resolving kinematics of the gamma ray interactions within the sensor; and

create a 3-D map of gamma ray sources by resolving statistically an intersection of at least two spatially registered cones formed by the determined scattering angle around the scattering direction.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising

a tag, the at least one processor configured to determine the spatial position and orientation of the sensor with respect to the object using an image of the tag captured by the camera.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein

the camera, or another visual camera or a depth imaging camera system at least partially enclosed within the housing assembly, having a field of view that observes the object, provides at least one image analyzed by at least one processor configured to render a three-dimensional (3-D) contour of the object.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:

the visualization device displays an image comprising a rendering of previously taken medical imagery combined with an essentially live image provided by the camera.

7. A laparoscopic, endoscopic or intra-cavity image formation and navigation apparatus, comprising:

a housing assembly having an elongated, essentially cylindrical part with a diameter of less than 30 millimeters (mm);

a gamma ray sensor with spectroscopic and position resolution at least partially enclosed within the elongated part of the housing assembly, towards a distal end of the elongated part;

an optical tracking camera at least partially enclosed within another housing assembly having an elongated, essentially cylindrical part with a diameter of less than 30 mm, towards the distal end of the elongated part, the camera having a field of view that observes a general area where the sensor is operated;

a tracking and co-registration system to provide a spatial position and orientation of the sensor and the camera with respect to examined organs;

at least one processor operatively coupled with a memory, the sensor, the tracking and co-registration system, and the camera, the memory having instructions for execution by the at least one processor configured to:

associate gamma ray interaction data from the sensor with the provided spatial position and orientation of the sensor with respect to an object to create registered scans;

determine a scattering angle around a scattering direction of a gamma ray interacting at least two times in the sensor by resolving kinematics of the gamma ray interactions within the sensor; and

create a 3-D map of gamma ray sources by resolving statistically an intersection of at least two spatially registered cones formed by the determined scattering angle around the scattering direction.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 ,

further comprising a visualization device operably linked to the at least one processor and configured to show instantaneous renderings of images;

wherein the memory has instructions for execution by the at least one processor configured to create an image for visualization which is a combination of a rendered image of the 3-D map and an image processed from an image captured by the camera.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein

the visualization device displays an image comprising a rendering of previously taken medical imagery combined with an essentially live image provided by the camera.

10. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein

the memory has instructions for execution by the at least one processor configured to create a 3-D model of a contour of organs by processing an image captured by the camera.

11. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the tracking and co-registration system provides tracking and coregistration information by mechanical means.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the tracking and co-registration system is part of a robotic surgery system.

13. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the co-registration system provides co-registration by using an image from the camera.

14. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein

the memory having instructions for execution by the at least one processor configured to:

provide tracking information for the sensor with respect to the organs by using an image from the camera, the image containing a view of a part of the sensor housing and a view of the organs, creating the tracking system; and

provide co-registration information between the position and orientation of the sensor and the position and orientation of the camera by using an image from the camera, the image containing a view of a part of the sensor housing and a view of the organs, creating the co-registration system.

15. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein

the camera is a member selected from the group consisting of a spectroscopic imaging camera, a fluorescence imaging camera, a stereoscopic imaging camera, a depth imaging camera, and combinations thereof.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein a material of the sensor is a member selected from the group consisting of a semiconductor position sensitive detector, cadmium zinc telluride (CdZnTe) detector, a cadmium tellurium (CdTe) detector, mercuric iodide (HgI 2 ), lead iodide (PbI 2 ), a position sensitive scintillator, a segmented silicon (Si) detector, a depleted charge-coupled device (CCD) sensor, and a depleted complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) sensor.

17. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the memory has instructions for execution by the at least one processor further configured to:

create and send for visualization on the visualization device renderings of 1 -D or 2 -D projections of the 3 -D map along or perpendicular to the housing assembly preferred axis.

18. An image navigation apparatus, comprising: an elongated medical instrument comprising a preferred axis physically identifiable by an operator;

an optical tracking camera rigidly affixed to the medical instrument;

a visualization device operably linked to at least one processor and configured to show instantaneous renderings of images, the at least one processor operatively coupled with a memory and the tracking camera, the memory having instructions for execution by the at least one processor configured to:

load a 3 D medical image dataset from the memory; determine a pose of the tracking camera with respect to an object using an image captured by the tracking camera;

determine the pose of the tracking camera with respect to the 3 D medical image dataset using the pose of the tracking camera with respect to the object; and

create an image for visualization on the visualization device that is a combination of a rendered image of the 3 D medical image dataset and an image processed from an image captured by the tracking camera.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the medical instrument comprises a surgical marking pen, a laser pointer, or a surgical instrument.

20. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the 3 D medical image dataset is produced by a medical imaging instrument selected from the group consisting of a magnetic resonance imaging (MM) device, a computed tomography (CT) scanner, a positron emission tomography (PET) device, a single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) device, a magnetic sensor, an ultrasound system, a gamma camera, and a gamma probe.

21. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the determination of the pose of the tracking camera with respect to the 3 D medical image dataset is achieved by matching a contour of a patient.

22. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the determination of the pose of the tracking camera with respect to the 3 D medical image dataset is achieved by overlapping a tag.

23. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the image sent to the visualization device includes a virtual beam.

24. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to create and send for visualizations on the visualization device renderings of 1 D or 2 D projections of the 3 D medical image dataset along or perpendicular to the medical instrument preferred axis.