title: Evaluation of a real-time hybrid three-dimensional echo and X-ray imaging system for guidance of cardiac catheterisation procedures.
abstract: Minimally invasive cardiac surgery is made possible by image guidance technology. X-ray fluoroscopy provides high contrast images of catheters and devices, whereas 3D ultrasound is better for visualising cardiac anatomy. We present a system in which the two modalities are combined, with a trans-esophageal echo volume registered to and overlaid on an X-ray projection image in real-time. We evaluate the accuracy of the system in terms of both temporal synchronisation errors and overlay registration errors. The temporal synchronisation error was found to be 10% of the typical cardiac cycle length. In 11 clinical data sets, we found an average alignment error of 2.9 mm. We conclude that the accuracy result is very encouraging and sufficient for guiding many types of cardiac interventions. The combined information is clinically useful for placing the echo image in a familiar coordinate system and for more easily identifying catheters in the echo volume.
authors.affiliation: Division of Imaging Sciences and Biomedical Engineering, King's College London, UK.
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Housden
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Arujuna
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nijhof
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gijsbers
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bullens
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: O'Neill
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cooklin
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Rinaldi
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gill
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kapetanakis
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hancock
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Razavi
authors.forename: K S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Rhode
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D006328:Cardiac Catheterization / Q000379:methods*; D003199:Computer Systems; D019560:Echocardiography, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D010363:Pattern Recognition, Automated / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013382:Subtraction Technique; D025321:Surgery, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*