User interface for photonic tools and electromagnetic tracking guided bronchoscope

1. A system for exploration of an interior of an object, comprising:

an interventional tool having a tip portion for introduction into the object;

navigation equipment configured to produce current positional information indicative of a current position of the tip inside the object whilst the tool resides in the object;

a probe for introduction into the object, configured to receive non-ionizing radiation reflected off the interior of the object;

a spectral analyzer configured to analyze a spectrum of the received radiation into exploratory information about material composition and/or tissue structure of the object's interior at or around the current tip position of the interventional tool, wherein the exploratory information comprises at least one measurement value for a material type present at or around the current tip position of the interventional tool and/or a scattering measurement value for an amount of scattering as per the received radiation;

a graphical user interface generator configured to produce a graphics display on a display unit including, when displayed:

i) at least one exploratory information indicator for the scatter measurement value or for the material type measurement value or for a value derived from either or both of said measurement values, the exploratory information indicator comprising a) a pointer element configured to indicate a current reading of at least one of the measurement value or of a current reading of the derived value and b) a dial element configured to indicate a range of values, with the pointer element being displayed against the dial element; and

ii) a position indicator for the current positional information of the tip's position in the interior;

and the system further comprising:

the display unit for displaying the graphics display when the system is use.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the spectral analyzer is configured to discriminate the material measurement value into amounts of any one of a first material type and a second material type, wherein the graphics display generated by the graphical user interface generator includes three discrete exploratory information indicators, each dedicated to the amounts of the first and second material types and the scattering value, respectively.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the spectral analyzer is configured to discriminate the material measurement value into amounts of any one of a first material type and a second material type, wherein the spectral analyzer is configured to combine the scattering value and the measured amounts for the first and second material types into a single super value, wherein the least one exploratory information indicator is for indicating said single super value.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the derived value is a probability value that relates to the probability of a first material type being in one of at least two states.

5. The system of claim 2 , wherein the measurement value relates to the amount of the first or second material currently present at or around the tip of the interventional tool.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the exploratory information indicator includes a graphical indication for two probability densities, one probability density describing a distribution of the measurement value for a first material type and the other probability density describing the distribution of the measured value for a second material type, the exploratory information indicator thereby supporting exploring transitions of strata of the first and second material types within the object, wherein the graphical indication of the two probability densities is by curve representation or by color-coding.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the navigation equipment is an electromagnetic tracking device with a sensor attached to the interventional tool to relate to the tip position to electromagnetic field strength sensed by the sensor and wherein the position indicator is a graphical symbol superimposed on imagery of the object's interior or wherein the navigation equipment is a fluoroscopy imaging device or a ultrasound imaging device or X-ray or CT or MRI or PET-CT and wherein the positional indicator is defined by a footprint of the tip of the interventional tool in a current fluorogram or in a current ultrasound image, respectively.

8. The system of claim 3 , wherein the first or second material types is hemoglobin or water and the respective measurement value relates to a respective concentration of hemoglobin or water.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the dial element is graduated and/or color- or grey-value coded.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein a position of the pointer relative to dial changes responsive to a change of position of the interventional tool within the object.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the tool comprises an endoscope and/or a catheter and/or a biopsy needle and or a forceps biopsy tool and/or a brush biopsy tool and/or a needle for fluid injection into the object.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein, responsive to the spectral analyzer's analyzing the received radiation into a current material type measurement value or into the scatter measurement value, the graphical user interface generator operates to include in the graphics display one or more measurement markers whose position in the graphics display corresponds to the current positional information, wherein the one or more measurement markers are color- and/or grey-value and/or shape coded according to the current material type measurement value or the scatter measurement value.

13. The system of claim 1 , where the probe further comprises an optical waveguides.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the optical waveguide comprises an optical fiber.

15. The system of claim 1 , further comprising an optical source configured to provide light to the probe, and an optical sensor configured to receive reflected light reflected by the object.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein diffuse reflectance (DRS) and fluorescence measurements are provided by the optical source and optical sensor.

17. A method comprising the steps of:

receiving current positional information indicative of a current position of an interventional tool inside an object;

receiving, by a probe, non-ionizing radiation reflected off an interior of the object;

spectrally analyzing, by a spectral analyzer, the received radiation into exploratory information about material composition and/or type and/or tissue structure of the object's interior at or around the current position of the interventional tool, the exploratory information comprising at least one measurement value for a material type present at or around the current position of the interventional tool and/or a scattering measurement value for an amount of scattering as per the received radiation;

producing, by a graphical user interface generator, a graphics display for display on a display unit,

displaying the graphics display on the display unit, wherein the graphics display includes:

i) at least one exploratory information indicator for the scatter measurement value or for the material type measurement value or for a value derived from either or both of said measurement values, the exploratory information indicator comprising a) a pointer element configured to indicate a current reading of the measurement value or a current reading of the derived value and b) a dial element configured to indicate a range of values, with the pointer element being displayed against the dial element; and

ii) a position indicator for the current positional information of the position in the interior.

18. A non-transitory computer readable medium that stores instructions, which, when being executed by one or more processing units, is adapted to perform a method, comprising:

receiving current positional information indicative of a current position of an interventional tool inside an object;

receiving, by a probe, non-ionizing radiation reflected off an interior of the object;

spectrally analyzing, by a spectral analyzer, the radiation received by the probe into exploratory information about material composition and/or type and/or tissue structure of the object's interior at or around the current position of the interventional tool, the exploratory information comprising at least one measurement value for a material type present at or around the current position of the interventional tool and/or a scattering measurement value for an amount of scattering as per the radiation received by the probe;

producing, by a graphical user interface generator, a graphics display for display on a display unit, wherein the graphics display includes:

i) at least one exploratory information indicator for the scatter measurement value or for the material type measurement value or for a value derived from either or both of said measurement values, the exploratory information indicator comprising a) a pointer element configured to indicate a current reading of the measurement value or a current reading of the derived value and b) a dial element configured to indicate a range of values, with the pointer element being displayed against the dial element; and

ii) a position indicator for the current positional information of the current position of the interventional tool in the interior.