Medical guidance device

1. A medical guidance device configured to guide an insertable medical tool for insertion into a patient through a skin entry point comprising:

an angular sensor comprising:

an inertial measurement unit comprising at least one sensor that is a gyroscope,

an accelerometer or a magnetometer, and

a circuit board connected to the inertial measurement unit and configured to compute an orientation by processing sensed signals from the inertial measurement unit;

a mechanical interface attached to the angular sensor; and

an indicator configured to be mounted on the patient and at least partially surrounds the skin entry point, the indicator is configured to

(i) receive information about the orientation from the angular sensor and

(ii) provide real-time feedback to a practitioner by indicating the orientation for the insertable medical tool,

wherein the mechanical interface is configured to be removably attached to the insertable medical tool or the practitioner.

2. The medical guidance device according to claim 1 , wherein the inertial measurement unit comprises the gyroscope, the accelerometer and the magnetometer, and the circuit board is configured to compute the orientation by processing sensed signals from the gyroscope, the accelerometer and the magnetometer.

3. The medical guidance device according to claim 1 further comprising;

a signal interface connected to the circuit board, wherein the signal interface is configured to receive a target orientation signal, and the circuit board is configured to compute a discrepancy between the target orientation and the orientation determined by the inertial measurement unit.

4. The medical guidance device according to claim 1 further comprising;

a data storage unit connected to the circuit board;

wherein the data storage stores the orientation determined by the inertial measurement unit.

5. The medical guidance device according to claim 4 further comprising;

a user interface that is configured to trigger the circuit board based on the practitioner's operation,

wherein the circuit board is configured to:

set the orientation in the event of the trigger from the user interface as a reference orientation,

command the data storage unit to store the reference orientation, and

compute discrepancy between the reference orientation in the data storage and the orientation determined by the inertial measurement unit.

6. The medical guidance device according to claim 5 wherein the reference orientation is the orientation between the insertable medical tool and a second insertable medical tool, and the circuit board is configured to compute discrepancy between different insertable medical tools.

7. The medical guidance device according to claim 5 further comprising;

one or more reference markers to define geometrical relation with a coordinate of the inertial measurement unit;

wherein the one or more reference markers is aligned to an image scan direction of a medical imaging device, the circuit board is configured to set the reference orientation based on the one or more aligned reference markers.

8. The medical guidance device according to claim 7 , wherein a gravitational orientation detected in the inertial measurement unit is aligned to the gravitational orientation in the image.

9. The medical guidance device according to claim 1 , wherein information provided by the indicator is real-time feedback of the orientation.

10. The medical guidance device according to claim 1 , wherein the medical guidance device is configured to guide a needle-like device.

11. The medical guidance device according to claim 1 , wherein the indicator is mounted on the mechanical interface.

12. The medical guidance device according to claim 1 , further comprising;

a second mechanical interface mechanically connected to the indicator

wherein the indicator is configured to be removably attachable to a location selected by the practitioner.

13. A medical guidance system comprising;

a plurality of the medical guidance devices according to claim 1 ;

a processor electrically connected to the plurality of medical guidance devices;

wherein the processor sets one of the plurality of medical guidance devices as a reference device, and

the processor measures discrepancies between an orientation of the reference device and orientations of the other medical guidance devices.

14. The medical guidance system according to claim 13 , wherein the reference device is configured to attach onto the patient, and at least one medical guidance device from the plurality of medical guidance devices is attached on a needle-like device configured to be inserted into the patient body.

15. The medical guidance system according to claim 13 , wherein the reference device is the medical guidance device attached on an ultrasound imaging probe, and at least one of the other medical guidance devices is attached on a needle-like device to be inserted into the patient body.

16. A medical guidance system comprising;

at least one medical guidance device according to claim 1 attached on a needle-like device;

fiducial markers on a patient to be aligned to a skin entry point where the needle-like device is inserted

a console electrically connected to an image server and the medical guidance device;

wherein the console receives a medical image, and registers a position and the orientation of the fiducial markers to a coordinate system of the patient, and feedback the orientation from the medical guidance device on the medical image by using the skin entry point as a reference position.

17. A method of deploying an insertable medical tool into a patient comprising:

attaching a mechanical interface to an insertable medical tool, wherein the mechanical interface is part of a medical guidance device that comprises:

an angular sensor comprising an inertial measurement unit comprising at least one sensor that is a gyroscope, an accelerometer or a magnetometer, and a circuit board connected to the inertial measurement unit,

a mechanical interface attached to the angular sensor, and

an indicator configured to be mounted on the patient that receives information about the orientation from the angular sensor and provide real-time feedback to a practitioner by indicating the orientation of the insertable medical tool;

defining a reference orientation,

aligning the insertable medical tool with the reference orientation based on the feedback from the indicator, and

deploying the insertable medical tool into the patient.

18. A method of aiding in a deployment of an insertable medical tool comprising:

providing the insertable medical tool comprising:

an angular sensor comprising an inertial measurement unit comprising at least one sensor that is a gyroscope, an accelerometer or a magnetometer, and a circuit board connected to the inertial measurement unit, and

a mechanical interface attached to the angular sensor, and configured for attachment to the insertable medical tool, and

an indicator configured to be mounted on a patient or a patient's bed that receives information about an orientation of the insertable medical tool from the angular sensor and provide real-time feedback to a practitioner by indicating the orientation of the insertable medical tool;

accepting a reference orientation information via a user input;

evaluating discrepancy between the insertable medical tool orientation and/or location compared to the reference orientation; and

providing discrepancy information via the indicator.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the angular sensor comprise each of the gyroscope, the accelerometer and the magnetometer.

20. A system comprising:

a medical guidance device comprising:

an angular sensor comprising:

an inertial measurement unit comprising at least one sensor that is a gyroscope, an accelerometer or a magnetometer, and

a circuit board connected to the inertial measurement unit and configured to compute an orientation by processing sensed signals from the inertial measurement unit;

a mechanical interface attached to the angular sensor;

wherein the mechanical interface is configured to be removably attached to an insertable medical tool or a practitioner, and

wherein the angular sensor is configured to determine an orientation of the insertable medical tool, and

an indicator configured to be mounted on a patient or a patient's bed that receives information about the orientation from the angular sensor and provide real-time feedback to the practitioner by indicating the orientation of the insertable medical tool.

21. The medical guidance device of claim 1 , wherein indicating the orientation for the insertable medical tool comprises indicating information of insertion plane direction Φ and insertion angle θ.

22. The system of claim 20 , wherein indicating the orientation for the insertable medical tool comprises indicating information of insertion plane direction Φ and insertion angle θ.