title: A method for bronchoscope tracking by combining a position sensor and image registration.
abstract: This paper describes a method for tracking a bronchoscope by combining a position sensor and image registration. A bronchoscopy guidance system is a tool for providing real-time navigation information acquired from pre-operative CT images to a physician during a bronchoscopic examination. In this system, one of the fundamental functions is tracking a bronchoscope's camera motion. Recently, a very small electromagnetic position sensor has become available. It is possible to insert this sensor into a bronchoscope's working channel to obtain the bronchoscope's camera motion. However, the accuracy of its output is inadequate for bronchoscope tracking. The proposed combination of the sensor and image registration between real and virtual bronchoscopic images derived from CT images is quite useful for improving tracking accuracy. Furthermore, this combination has enabled us to achieve a real-time bronchoscope guidance system. We performed evaluation experiments for the proposed method using a rubber phantom model. The experimental results showed that the proposed system allowed the bronchoscope's camera motion to be tracked at 2.5 frames per second.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Information Science, Nagoya University, Nagoya, and Minami-sanjo Hospital, Sapporo, Japan. ddeguchi@suenaga.m.is.nagoya-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Daisuke
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Deguchi
authors.forename: Kenta
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Akiyama
authors.forename: Kensaku
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mori
authors.forename: Takayuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kitasaka
authors.forename: Yasuhito
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Suenaga
authors.forename: Calvin R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Maurer
authors.forename: Hirotsugu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Takabatake
authors.forename: Masaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mori
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Natori
mesh_terms: D001185:Artificial Intelligence; D001999:Bronchoscopy / Q000379:methods*; D055590:Electromagnetic Phenomena; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D010363:Pattern Recognition, Automated; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D011857:Radiographic Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013382:Subtraction Technique; D018511:Systems Integration