System and methods for performing biomechanically driven image registration using ultrasound elastography

1. A method for registering a pre-operative 3D medical image volume of a target organ to intra-operative ultrasound images, comprising:

acquiring an intra-operative 3D B-mode ultrasound volume and an intra-operative 3D ultrasound elastography volume by acquiring and interleaving a stream of 2D B-mode ultrasound images and a stream of 2D ultrasound elastography images;

determining patient-specific boundary conditions for a biomechanical tissue model of a target organ using the intra-operative 3D B-mode ultrasound volume, wherein the biomechanical tissue model is constructed on a pre-operative tissue domain defined by a segmentation of the target organ in the pre-operative 3D medical image volume, the patient-specific boundary conditions determined by:

establishing surface correspondences on a surface of the target organ segmented in the pre-operative 3D medical image volume and a surface of the target organ segmented in the intra-operative 3D B-mode ultrasound volume; and

designating boundary conditions for the biomechanical tissue model that constrain deformation of the target organ in the pre-operative 3D medical image volume based on displacements between the surface correspondences on the surface of the target organ segmented in the pre-operative 3D medical image volume and the surface of the target organ segmented in the intra-operative 3D B-mode ultrasound volume;

determining patient-specific material properties for the biomechanical tissue model of the target organ using the intra-operative 3D ultrasound elastography volume by:

warping the pre-operative tissue domain using the biomechanical tissue model based on the patient-specific boundary conditions to warp a current tissue material property distribution, the pre-operative tissue domain warped such that locations of the surface correspondences on the target organ in the pre-operative 3D medical image volume match the surface correspondences on the target organ in the intra-operative 3D B-mode ultrasound volume,

comparing the warped current tissue material property distribution with a measured tissue material property distribution measured from the intra-operative 3D ultrasound elastography volume, and

updating the current tissue material property distribution based on the comparison, wherein the patient-specific material properties include a distribution of spatially varying values of a tissue property; and

deforming the target organ in the pre-operative 3D medical image volume using the biomechanical tissue model with the patient-specific material properties, wherein the deformation of the target organ in the pre-operative 3D medical image volume is constrained by the patient-specific boundary conditions.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein acquiring an intra-operative 3D B-mode ultrasound volume and an intra-operative 3D ultrasound elastography volume comprises:

interleaving frames acquired using a B-mode ultrasound acquisition protocol and frames acquired using an ultrasound elastography acquisition protocol during a sweep of the target organ with an ultrasound probe;

generating the intra-operative 3D B-mode ultrasound volume by compounding the stream of 2D B-mode ultrasound images; and

generating the intra-operative 3D ultrasound elastography volume by compounding the stream of 2D ultrasound elastography images.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:

tracking the ultrasound probe in 3D space using a tracking system, resulting in tracking information associated with each frame acquired by the ultrasound probe, wherein the intra-operative 3D B-mode ultrasound volume is generated by compounding the stream of 2D B-mode ultrasound images using the tracking information associated with each frame of the stream of 2D B-mode ultrasound images and the intra-operative 3D ultrasound elastography volume is generated by compounding the stream of 2D ultrasound elastography images using the tracking information associated with each frame of the stream of 2D ultrasound elastography images.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein acquiring an intra-operative 3D B-mode ultrasound volume and an intra-operative 3D ultrasound elastography volume comprises:

acquiring the intra-operative 3D B-mode ultrasound volume and the intra-operative 3D ultrasound elastography volume using a 3D ultrasound probe.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining patient-specific material properties for the biomechanical tissue model of the target organ using the intra-operative 3D ultrasound elastography volume further comprises:

repeating the warping, the comparing, and the updating for a plurality of iterations.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein repeating the warping, the comparing, and the updating for a plurality of iterations comprises:

repeating the warping, the comparing, and the updating for a plurality of iterations until a difference between the warped current tissue material property distribution and the measured tissue material property distribution is less than a threshold value.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein repeating the warping, the comparing, and the updating for a plurality of iterations comprises:

repeating the warping, the comparing, and the updating for a plurality of iterations until a predetermined maximum number of iterations is reached.

8. The method of claim 5 , wherein deforming the target organ in the pre-operative 3D medical image volume using the biomechanical tissue model with the patient-specific material properties with the deformation of the target organ in the pre-operative 3D medical image volume constrained by the patient-specific boundary conditions comprises:

deforming the target organ in the pre-operative 3D medical image volume using the biomechanical tissue model with the current tissue material property distribution resulting from a final iteration of the plurality of iterations with the deformation of the target organ in the pre-operative 3D medical image volume constrained by the patient-specific boundary conditions.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the current tissue material property distribution is a tissue stiffness distribution.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

performing an initial rigid alignment of the pre-operative 3D medical image volume and the intra-operative 3D B-mode ultrasound volume prior to determining the patient-specific boundary conditions, determining the patient-specific material properties, and deforming the target organ in the pre-operative 3D medical image volume using the biomechanical tissue model.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

overlaying the deformed target organ in the pre-operative 3D medical image volume on at least one of the intra-operative 3D B-mode ultrasound volume or one or more intra-operative 2D B-mode ultrasound images.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

deforming a map of target points defined for the target organ in the pre-operative 3D medical image volume using a non-rigid transformation corresponding to the deformation of the target organ in the pre-operative 3D medical image volume using the biomechanical tissue model; and

overlaying the deformed map of target points defined for the target organ on at least one of the intra-operative 3D B-mode ultrasound volume or one or more intra-operative 2D B-mode ultrasound images.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

mapping one or more intra-operative 2D B-mode ultrasound images to a coordinate system of the pre-operative 3D medical image volume based on a non-rigid transformation corresponding to the deformation of the target organ in the pre-operative 3D medical image volume using the biomechanical tissue model.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the pre-operative 3D medical image volume is one of a computed tomography volume or a magnetic resonance imaging volume.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the target organ is one of a liver or a prostate.

16. An apparatus for registering a pre-operative 3D medical image volume of a target organ to intra-operative ultrasound images, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory storing computer program instructions, which when executed by the processor cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

acquiring an intra-operative 3D B-mode ultrasound volume and an intra-operative 3D ultrasound elastography volume by acquiring and interleaving a stream of 2D B-mode ultrasound images and a stream of 2D ultrasound elastography images;

determining patient-specific boundary conditions for a biomechanical tissue model of a target organ using the intra-operative 3D B-mode ultrasound volume, wherein the biomechanical tissue model is constructed on a pre-operative tissue domain defined by a segmentation of the target organ in the pre-operative 3D medical image volume, the patient-specific boundary conditions determined by:

establishing surface correspondences on a surface of the target organ segmented in the pre-operative 3D medical image volume and a surface of the target organ segmented in the intra-operative 3D B-mode ultrasound volume; and

designating boundary conditions for the biomechanical tissue model that constrain deformation of the target organ in the pre-operative 3D medical image volume based on displacements between the surface correspondences on the surface of the target organ segmented in the pre-operative 3D medical image volume and the surface of the target organ segmented in the intra-operative 3D B-mode ultrasound volume;

determining patient-specific material properties for the biomechanical tissue model of the target organ using the intra-operative 3D ultrasound elastography volume by:

warping the pre-operative tissue domain using the biomechanical tissue model based on the patient-specific boundary conditions to warp a current tissue material property distribution, the pre-operative tissue domain warped such that locations of the surface correspondences on the target organ in the pre-operative 3D medical image volume match the surface correspondences on the target organ in the intra-operative 3D B-mode ultrasound volume,

comparing the warped current tissue material property distribution with a measured tissue material property distribution measured from the intra-operative 3D ultrasound elastography volume, and

updating the current tissue material property distribution based on the comparison, wherein the patient-specific material properties include a distribution of spatially varying values of a tissue property; and

deforming the target organ in the pre-operative 3D medical image volume using the biomechanical tissue model with the patient-specific material properties, wherein the deformation of the target organ in the pre-operative 3D medical image volume is constrained by the patient-specific boundary conditions.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein determining patient-specific material properties for the biomechanical tissue model of the target organ using the intra-operative 3D ultrasound elastography volume comprises:

repeating the warping, the comparing, and the updating for a plurality of iterations.

18. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing computer program instructions for registering a pre-operative 3D medical image volume of a target organ to intra-operative ultrasound images, the computer program instructions when executed by a processor cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

acquiring an intra-operative 3D B-mode ultrasound volume and an intra-operative 3D ultrasound elastography volume by acquiring and interleaving a stream of 2D B-mode ultrasound images and a stream of 2D ultrasound elastography images;

determining patient-specific boundary conditions for a biomechanical tissue model of a target organ using the intra-operative 3D B-mode ultrasound volume, wherein the biomechanical tissue model is constructed on a pre-operative tissue domain defined by a segmentation of the target organ in the pre-operative 3D medical image volume, the patient-specific boundary conditions determined by:

establishing surface correspondences on a surface of the target organ segmented in the pre-operative 3D medical image volume and a surface of the target organ segmented in the intra-operative 3D B-mode ultrasound volume; and

designating boundary conditions for the biomechanical tissue model that constrain deformation of the target organ in the pre-operative 3D medical image volume based on displacements between the surface correspondences on the surface of the target organ segmented in the pre-operative 3D medical image volume and the surface of the target organ segmented in the intra-operative 3D B-mode ultrasound volume;

determining patient-specific material properties for the biomechanical tissue model of the target organ using the intra-operative 3D ultrasound elastography volume by:

warping the pre-operative tissue domain using the biomechanical tissue model based on the patient-specific boundary conditions to warp a current tissue material property distribution, the pre-operative tissue domain warped such that locations of the surface correspondences on the target organ in the pre-operative 3D medical image volume match the surface correspondences on the target organ in the intra-operative 3D B-mode ultrasound volume,

comparing the warped current tissue material property distribution with a measured tissue material property distribution measured from the intra-operative 3D ultrasound elastography volume, and

updating the current tissue material property distribution based on the comparison, wherein the patient-specific material properties include a distribution of spatially varying values of a tissue property; and

deforming the target organ in the pre-operative 3D medical image volume using the biomechanical tissue model with the patient-specific material properties, wherein the deformation of the target organ in the pre-operative 3D medical image volume is constrained by the patient-specific boundary conditions.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 18 , wherein determining patient-specific material properties for the biomechanical tissue model of the target organ using the intra-operative 3D ultrasound elastography volume comprises:

repeating the warping, the comparing, and the updating for a plurality of iterations.