Method and system for trackerless image guided soft tissue surgery and applications of same

1. A method for performing trackerless image guided soft tissue surgery on a living subject, comprising:

(a) performing pre-operative preparation for the living subject, comprising:

generating a first three-dimensional textured point cloud (TPC) for a surface of the living subject covering an organ, wherein the organ is formed by the soft tissue, comprising placing a plurality of first markings on the surface of the living subject;

scanning at least one field of view (FOV) image of the surface of the living subject with the first markings;

constructing the first three-dimensional TPC based on the at least one FOV image using principles of computer vision;

registering the first three-dimensional TPC to a magnetic resonance (MR) model of the organ to generate a fused three-dimensional TPC-to-MR display visibly relating the FOV of the surface of the living subject as represented by the TPC to the MR image volume used for surgery planning; and

performing an entry-into-body plan on the surface using the fused three-dimensional TPC-to-MR display, wherein the fused three-dimensional TPC-to-MR display is provided as an initial MR-to-patient alignment;

(b) performing an intra-operative cortical surface registration to the MR model, comprising:

opening the surface based on the entry-into-body plan to expose a cortical surface of the organ;

capturing at least one FOV image of the cortical surface of the organ with a plurality of second markings, wherein the second markings are visible in the at least one FOV image of the cortical surface of the organ;

generating a second three-dimensional TPC for the cortical surface of the organ based on the at least one FOV image of the cortical surface of the organ; and

performing an MR-to-cortical surface alignment by registering the second three-dimensional TPC to the MR model to generate an intra-operatively fused three-dimensional TPC-to-MR display visibly relating the FOV of the cortical surface of the organ for shift measurement and compensation; and

(c) performing the shift measurement and compensation to the MR model of the organ, comprising:

performing absolute deformation measurement of the organ based on the second markings maintaining a fixed reference to the living subject subsequent to the MR model with the cortical surface registration;

obtaining shift correction to the MR model using the absolute deformation measurements; and

adjusting an image guidance system (IGS) based on the shift correction for performing an operation to the organ,

wherein the method is performed without a separate optical tracking device.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the organ is a brain, the surface is a scalp surface of the living subject, and the entry-into-body plan is a craniotomy plan.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of scanning at least one FOV scanned image is performed by a stereo camera, a stereovision device, or a stereo-pair or laser scanning device.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first markings are ink markings or geometrically distinct marking objects printed or adhered on the rigid surface of the living subject, and the second markings are implants or soft-designated-visible dots adhered to a rigid bone surface of the organ, unique geometric reference targets on the bone or cortical surface of the organ, or a combination of them.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the step (a) further comprises:

performing segmentation and building the MR model; and

constructing a pre-operatively determined distribution of possible brain deformations based on a computational model.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:

performing an intra-operative post-resection cortical surface TPC and comparing the post-resection cortical surface TPC to a pre-resection cortical surface TPC taken before resection:

performing registration of the post-resection and pre-resection cortical surface TPCs using the second markings; and

once the post-resection and pre-resection cortical surface TPCs are placed in a same reference, determining shift measurement of corresponding features on the post-resection and pre-resection cortical surface TPCs, and using the determined shift measurement to drive deformation compensation of the MR model using the computer model.

7. A method for performing trackerless image guided soft tissue surgery on a living subject, comprising:

(a) performing at least one image-to-physical registration to the living subject, comprising:

(1) performing a pre-operative registration to an organ of the living subject wherein the organ is formed by the soft tissue, comprising:

generating a first three-dimensional textured point cloud (TPC) for a surface of the living subject covering the organ by placing a plurality of first markings on a surface of the living subject;

scanning at least one field of view (FOV) image of the surface of the living subject with the first markings;

constructing the three-dimensional TPC based on the at least one FOV image using principles of computer vision; and

registering the first three-dimensional TPC to a magnetic resonance (MR) model of the organ to generate a fused three-dimensional TPC-to-MR display visibly relating the FOV of the surface of the living subject as represented by the TPC to the MR image volume used for surgery planning;

performing an entry-into-body plan on the surface using the fused three-dimensional TPC-to-MR display, wherein the fused three-dimensional TPC-to-MR display is provided as an initial MR-to-patient alignment; and

(2) performing an intra-operative cortical surface registration to the MR model for a MR-to-cortical surface alignment, comprising:

opening the surface based on the craniotomy plan to expose a cortical surface of the organ;

capturing at least one FOV image of the cortical surface of the organ with a plurality of second markings, wherein the second markings are visible in the at least one FOC image of the cortical surface of the organ;

generating a second three-dimensional TPC for the cortical surface of the organ based on the at least one FOV image of the cortical surface of the organ; and

performing the MR-to-cortical surface alignment by registering the second three-dimensional TPC to the MR model to generate an intra-operatively fused three-dimensional TPC-to-MR display visibly relating the FOV of the cortical surface of the organ for absolute deformation measurement;

(b) performing the absolute deformation measurement of the organ of the living subject based on the second markings maintaining a fixed reference to the living subject subsequent to the at least one image-to-physical registration;

(c) performing shift correction to the organ using the absolute deformation measurements; and

(d) adjusting an image guidance system (IGS) based on the shift correction for performing operation to the organ,

wherein the method is performed without a separate optical tracking device.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the step (1) further comprises:

performing segmentation and building the MR model; and

constructing a pre-operative atlas.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the step of scanning at least one FOV scanned image is performed by a stereo camera, a stereovision device, or a stereo-pair or laser scanning device.

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein the first markings are ink markings or geometrically distinct marking objects printed or adhered on the surface of the living subject.

11. The method of claim 7 , wherein the organ is a brain, the surface is a scalp surface of the living subject, and the entry-into-body plan is a craniotomy plan.

12. The method of claim 7 , wherein the step (a) further comprises:

performing an intra-operative post-resection registration to the MR model.

13. The method of claim 7 , wherein the second markings are implants or soft-designated-visible dots adhered to a rigid bone surface of the organ, unique geometric reference targets on the bone or cortical surface of the organ, or a combination of them.