Method, system and apparatus for image-guided insertion of implant devices

1. A method of imaging an implant device in a computing device having a processor interconnected with a memory and a display, comprising, at the processor:

obtaining a first pre-operative magnetic resonance (MR) image of a patient tissue, the first pre-operative MR image containing a first magnetic field strength indicator;

after insertion of the implant device in the patient tissue, obtaining a second intra-operative MR image of the patient tissue and the implant device, the second intra-operative MR image containing a second magnetic field strength indicator smaller than the first magnetic field strength indicator;

registering the second intra-operative MR image with the first pre-operative MR image;

generating a composite image from the first pre-operative MR image and the second intra-operative MR image, wherein generating the composite image includes:

for each voxel of the second intra-operative MR image, (i) determining a difference between a value of the voxel and a value of a corresponding voxel of the first pre-operative MR image, (ii) determining whether the difference excedes a threshold and (iii) when the difference exceeds the threshold selecting the voxel of the second intra-operative MR image as indicating a presence of the implant device; and

substituting the selected voxels of the second intra-operative MR image for the corresponding voxels of the first pre-operative MR image; and

presenting thee composite image on the display.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first pre-operative MR image and the second intra-operative MR image each comprises a quantitative T1 map image.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first pre-operative MR image and the second intra-operative MR image each comprises a quantitative T2 map image.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first pre-operative MR image and the second intra-operative MR image each comprises a diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) image.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the implant device comprises one of (i) a deep brain stimulation (DBS) probe and (ii) a cochlear implant.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

obtaining a third MR image of the patient tissue, the third MR image containing a third magnetic field strength indicator smaller than the first magnetic field strength indicator.

7. The method of claim 6 , the third magnetic field strength indicator being equal to the second magnetic field strength indicator.

8. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:

registering the third MR image with the first pre-operative MR image;

generating a further composite image from the first pre-operative MR image and the third MR image; and

presenting the further composite image on the display in place of the composite image.

9. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:

obtaining the third MR image after a positional adjustment of the implant device within the patient tissue.

10. A computing device for imaging an implant device, comprising:

a memory;

a display; and

a processor interconnected with the memory and the display, the processor configured to:

obtain a first pre-operative magnetic resonance (MR) image of a patient tissue, the first pre-operative MR image containing a first magnetic field strength indicator;

after insertion of the implant device in the patient tissue, obtain a second intra-operative MR image of the patient tissue and the implant device, the second intra-operative MR image containing a second magnetic field strength indicator smaller than the first magnetic field strength indicator;

register the second intra-operative MR image with the first pre-operative MR image;

generate a composite image from the first pre-operative MR image and the second intra-operative MR image, wherein generation of the composite image includes:

for each voxel of the second intra-operative MR image: (i) determining a difference between a value of the voxel and a value of a corresponding voxel of the first pre-operative MR image, (ii) determining whether the difference exceeds a threshold, and (iii) when the difference exceeds the threshold, selecting the voxel of the second intra-operative MR image as indicating a presence of the implant device; and

substituting the selected voxels of the second intra-operative MR image for the corresponding voxels of the first pre-operative MR image; and

present the composite image on the display.

11. The computing device of claim 10 , wherein the first pre-operative MR image and the second intra-operative MR image each comprises a quantitative T1 map image.

12. The computing device of claim 10 , wherein the first pre-operative MR image and the second intra-operative MR image each comprises a quantitative T2 map image.

13. The computing device of claim 10 , wherein the first pre-operative MR image and the second intra-operative MR image each comprises a diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) image.

14. The computing device of claim 10 , wherein the implant device comprises one of (i) a deep brain stimulation (DBS) probe and (ii) a cochlear implant.

15. The computing device of claim 10 , the processor further configured to:

obtain a third MR image of the patient tissue, the third MR image containing a third magnetic field strength indicator smaller than the first magnetic field strength indicator.

16. The computing device of claim 15 , the third magnetic field strength indicator being equal to the second magnetic field strength indicator.

17. The computing device of claim 15 , the processor further configured to:

register the third MR image with the first pre-operative MR image;

generate a further composite image from the first pre-operative MR image and the third MR image; and

present the further composite image on the display in place of the composite image.

18. The computing device of claim 15 , the processor further configured to:

obtain the third MR image after a positional adjustment of the implant device within the patient tissue.