Estimating the endoluminal path of an endoluminal device along a lumen

1. Apparatus comprising:

an endoluminal device that comprises one or more radiopaque portions and that is configured to move through a lumen of a subject;

a radiographic imaging device configured to acquire a sequence of radiographic images of a portion of a subject's body in which the lumen is disposed, during movement of the endoluminal device through the lumen;

an output device; and

at least one computer processor configured to:

analyze the sequence of radiographic images to identify a set of radiopaque features in the sequence of radiographic images, wherein the set of radiopaque features comprises respective radiopaque features in each radiographic image of the sequence of radiographic images, and wherein the set of radiopaque features corresponds to the one or more radiopaque portions of the endoluminal device and additional radiopaque features;

generate a first closed shape comprising the set of radiopaque features;

wherein the second closed shape comprises only a set of locations at which the one or more radiopaque portions of the endoluminal device were imaged during the movement of the endoluminal device through the lumen thereby excluding the additional radiopaque features;

estimate an endoluminal path of the endoluminal device through the lumen, based upon a center line of the second closed shape; and

generate, on the output device, an output image including the lumen and the estimated endoluminal path.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the lumen undergoes motion, and wherein the computer processor is configured to estimate the endoluminal path of the endoluminal device through the lumen that undergoes motion.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the computer processor is configured, based upon the estimated endoluminal path, to register a current position of the portion of the subject's body to an additional image of the portion of the subject's body, by accounting for a change in a position of the portion of the subject's body between acquisition of the additional image and acquisition of the sequence of radiographic images.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the computer processor is configured to determine an extent of foreshortening of respective portions of the endoluminal path of the endoluminal device through the lumen, by analyzing the sequence of radiographic images.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the lumen undergoes cyclical motion as a result of a physiological cycle of the subject, wherein the computer processor is configured to generate the second closed shape by identifying a sub-set of the set of locations at which the one or more radiopaque portions of the endoluminal device were imaged at a given phase of the subject's physiological cycle.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the computer processor is configured to generate the second closed shape by: identifying a sub-set of the set of locations at which the one or more radiopaque portions of the endoluminal device were imaged, such that each member of the sub-set is disposed within a given distance from at least one other member of the sub-set, and defining the sub-set as the set of locations at which the one or more radiopaque portions of the endoluminal device were disposed during the movement of the endoluminal device through the lumen.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the computer processor is configured to:

receive an image of the lumen in which the lumen is visible;

receive an indication of a center-line of the lumen within the received image of the lumen;

and register respective locations along the estimated endoluminal path of the endoluminal device through the lumen to respective locations along the center-line of the lumen within the received image of the lumen.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the computer processor is configured:

to receive an image of the lumen in which the lumen is visible; and

to receive an indication of a center-line of the lumen within the received image of the lumen, to estimate the endoluminal path of the endoluminal device through the lumen using the closed shape in combination with the lumen center-line.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the endoluminal device comprises an endoluminal data-acquisition device configured to acquire a plurality of endoluminal data sets at respective locations along the lumen, and wherein the computer processor is configured to register respective endoluminal data sets to respective locations along the estimated endoluminal path of the endoluminal device through the lumen.

10. The apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein the computer processor is configured to:

receive an image of the lumen in which the lumen is visible; and

register respective endoluminal data sets to respective locations along the lumen in the received image, based upon the registering of the respective endoluminal data sets to the respective locations along the estimated endoluminal path of the endoluminal device through the lumen.

11. The apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein the computer processor is configured to determine diameters of the lumen at respective locations along the estimated endoluminal path of the endoluminal device through the lumen, based upon the registering of the respective endoluminal data sets to the respective locations along the estimated endoluminal path of the endoluminal device through the lumen.

12. The apparatus according to claim 11 , wherein the computer processor is configured to identify a location of a lesion along the estimated endoluminal path of the endoluminal device through the lumen, based upon the determined diameters of the lumen.

13. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the computer processor is configured to generate the first closed shape by generating a combined image in which the set of locations form an integrated set of locations, by overlaying, upon each other, images in which the radiopaque portions of the endoluminal device have been identified.

14. The apparatus according to claim 13 , wherein the computer processor is configured to estimate the endoluminal path of the endoluminal device through the lumen by identifying a curve that defines the set of locations within the combined image and estimating that the endoluminal path of the endoluminal device through the lumen was along the identified curve.

15. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the computer processor is configured to estimate a location of a center-line of the lumen based upon the the estimated endoluminal path of the endoluminal device.

16. The apparatus according to claim 15 , wherein the computer processor is configured to estimate the location of the center-line of the lumen by:

receiving an image of the lumen in which the lumen is visible; and

estimating the location of the center-line with respect to the received image of the lumen, using the estimated endoluminal path of the endoluminal device as an input for estimating the location of the center-line.

17. A computer software product, for use with an endoluminal device that includes one or more radiopaque portions and that moves through a lumen of a subject, and a radiographic imaging device configured to acquire a sequence of radiographic images of a portion of the subject's body in which the lumen is disposed, during movement of the endoluminal device through the lumen, the computer software product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium in which program instructions are stored, which instructions, when read by a computer cause the computer to perform the steps of:

analyzing the sequence of radiographic images to identify a set of radiopaque features in the sequence of radiographic images, wherein the set of radiopaque features comprises respective radiopaque features in each radiographic image of the sequence of radiographic images, and wherein the set of radiopaque features corresponds to the one or more radiopaque portions of the endoluminal device and additional radiopaque features;

generating a first closed shape comprising the set of radiographic features,

generating a second closed shape based on the first closed shape, wherein the second closed shape comprises only a set of locations at which the one or more radiopaque portions of the endoluminal device were imaged during the movement of the endoluminal device through the lumen thereby excluding the additional radiopaque features;

estimating an endoluminal path of the endoluminal device through the lumen based upon a center line of the second closed shape; and

generating, on an output device, an output image including the lumen and the estimated endoluminal path.

18. A method comprising:

while an endoluminal data-acquisition device moves along a portion of a lumen:

acquiring a plurality of endoluminal data sets from respective locations along the lumen, using the endoluminal data-acquisition device; and

acquiring a sequence of extraluminal images of the endoluminal device inside the lumen, using an extraluminal imaging device;

analyzing the sequence of extraluminal images to identify a set of radiopaque features in the set of radiographic images, wherein the set of radiopaque features comprises respective radiopaque features in each radiographic image of the sequence of radiographic images, and wherein the set of radiopaque features corresponds to one or more radiopaque portions of the endoluminal data-acquisition device and additional radiopaque features;

generating a first closed shape comprising the set of radiographic features,

generating a second closed shape based on the first closed shape, wherein the second closed shape comprises only a set of locations at which the one or more radiopaque portions of the endoluminal device were imaged during the acquiring of the plurality of endoluminal data sets thereby excluding the additional radiopaque features;

estimating a path of the lumen based upon a center line of the second closed shape; and

using at least one computer processor, coregistering respective endoluminal data sets to respective locations along the estimated path of the lumen without requiring a user to input, to the computer processor, an indication of a shape of the path of the lumen.