Refinement of an anatomical model using ultrasound

1. A method of refining a model comprising:

acquiring a two-dimensional echocardiogram from a catheter located within a subject;

acquiring, from a plurality of position detectors associated with a distal portion of the catheter, a position and orientation of the catheter associated with the acquired two-dimensional echocardiogram;

acquiring a three-dimensional anatomical model from the subject, the three dimensional model including one or more mapping points within a three dimensional model space; and

using a processor to:

relate the two-dimensional echocardiogram and the associated position and orientation of the catheter to the one or more mapping points of the three-dimensional anatomical model;

determine a degree of influence value for the one or more mapping points;

display the one or more mapping points with a visual attribute that corresponds to the determined degree of influence value; and

refine the three-dimensional anatomical model based on the visual attribute;

wherein using the processor to determine a degree of influence value for the one or more mapping points includes:

determining a confidence value for the model;

removing at least one of the one or more mapping points from the model; and

calculating a change in the confidence value of the model attributable to the at least one removed point.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the visual attribute is a color selected from a spectrum of colors, the selected color representing a range of influence values.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the visual attribute is a symbol that represents a range of influence values.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining a confidence value for the model includes:

identifying a boundary from the two-dimensional echocardiogram;

calculating a distance between each of the one or more mapping points of the model and the identified boundary.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising aggregating the respective distances.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the two-dimensional echocardiogram is acquired from an ultrasound transducer associated with the distal portion of the catheter.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein using the processor to relate the two-dimensional echocardiogram and the associated position and orientation of the catheter to the one or more mapping points of the three-dimensional anatomical model includes:

receiving an indication of the position and orientation of the ultrasound transducer; and

registering the two-dimensional echocardiogram within the three-dimensional model space using the position and orientation of the ultrasound transducer.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein using the processor to relate the two-dimensional echocardiogram and the associated position and orientation of the catheter to the one or more mapping points of the three-dimensional anatomical model further includes refining the registration using an iterative closest point registration algorithm.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the indication of the position and orientation of the ultrasound transducer is received from the plurality of position detectors associated with the distal portion of the catheter.

10. The method of claim 7 , further comprising displaying a representation of the two dimensional echocardiogram within the three-dimensional model space.

11. A system for refining a three-dimensional anatomical model, the system comprising:

a processor having stored therein a database comprising a three-dimensional anatomical model from a subject including one or more mapping points existing in a three-dimensional model space;

an ultrasound echo imaging system including a catheter configured to acquire a two-dimensional echocardiogram from the subject; and

a plurality of position detectors configured to determine a position and orientation of the catheter associated with the two-dimensional echocardiogram;

wherein the processor is configured to do the following:

relate the two-dimensional echocardiogram and the position and orientation of the catheter associated with the two-dimensional echocardiogram to the one or more mapping points;

determine a degree of influence value for the one or more mapping points;

display the one or more mapping points with a visual attribute that corresponds to the determined degree of influence value; and

refine the three-dimensional model based on the visual attribute; and

wherein the processor is further configured to:

determine a confidence value for the model;

remove at least one of the one or more mapping points from the model; and

calculate a change in the confidence value of the model attributable to the at least one removed point.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the visual attribute is a color selected from a spectrum that corresponds to a range of influence values.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the visual attribute is a symbol that represents a range of influence values.

14. The system of claim 11 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

identify a boundary from the two-dimensional echocardiogram;

calculate a distance between each of the one or more mapping points of the model and the identified boundary; and

aggregate the respective distances.

15. The system of claim 11 , wherein the processor is further configured to evaluate a spatial distribution of a vector error between the model and an ultrasound boundary.

16. A system for assessing the accuracy of an anatomical model, the system comprising:

a processor having stored therein a database comprising a three-dimensional anatomical model from a subject including one or more mapping points existing in a three-dimensional model space;

an ultrasound echo imaging system configured to acquire a two-dimensional echocardiogram from the subject from an intracardiac echo catheter, the intracardiac echo catheter including a plurality of position detectors configured to determine a position and orientation of the catheter associated with the two-dimensional echocardiogram;

wherein the processor is configured to do the following:

relate the two-dimensional echocardiogram and the position and orientation of the catheter to the one or more mapping points;

determine a degree of influence value for the one or more mapping points;

display the one or more mapping points with a visual attribute that corresponds to the determined degree of influence value; and

refine the three-dimensional anatomical model based on the visual attribute; and

wherein the processor is further configured to:

determine a confidence value for the model;

remove at least one of the one or more mapping points from the model; and

calculate a change in the confidence value of the model attributable to the removed point.