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Inverse C-arm positioning for interventional procedures using real-time body part detection.
Christian Schaller1, Christopher Rohkohl, Jochen Penne
1Chair of Pattern Recognition and Erlangen Graduate School in Advanced Optical Technologies (SAOT), Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Martensstr. 3, 91058 Erlangen, Germany. christian.schaller@informatik.uni-erlangen.de
This study introduces a novel system using Time-of-Flight (ToF) sensors for automated patient setup in interventional imaging. The system accurately positions C-arm systems for faster, more efficient diagnostic and therapeutic workflows.
Area of Science:
- Medical Imaging
- Robotics
- Computer Vision
Background:
- Interventional therapy and diagnostic workflows require faster image acquisition.
- Automating patient setup is key to accelerating these procedures.
- Current methods often rely on markers or prior assumptions, limiting efficiency.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and evaluate a markerless system for automated patient setup in interventional imaging.
- To leverage Time-of-Flight (ToF) sensor technology for real-time 3D body shape acquisition.
- To enable C-arm systems to autonomously position themselves relative to the patient.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a Time-of-Flight (ToF) sensor to capture real-time 3D patient surface data.
- Developed a two-stage classification process to partition the 3D body shape into anatomical regions.
- Computed the ISO-center for each identified anatomical region.
- Tested system accuracy for head ISO-center computation and C-arm alignment.
Main Results:
- Achieved high accuracy in head ISO-center computation (reproducibility: x: 1.73 ± 1.11 mm, y: 1.87 ± 1.31 mm, z: 2.91 ± 2.62 mm).
- Demonstrated successful automatic alignment of the C-arm ISO-center with the head ISO-center within ±1 cm accuracy.
- Validated the system's capability for markerless, automated patient positioning.
Conclusions:
- Time-of-Flight (ToF) sensor technology can be effectively integrated into interventional imaging systems.
- The developed system enables markerless, automated patient setup and C-arm positioning.
- This automation significantly contributes to the speedup and efficiency of interventional workflows.
