US-fluoroscopy registration for transcatheter aortic valve implantation

Transcatheter aortic valve implantation is a minimally invasive alternative to open-heart surgery for aortic stenosis in which a stent-based bioprosthetic valve is delivered into the heart on a catheter. Limited visualization during this procedure can lead to severe complications. Improved visualization can be provided by live registration of transesophageal echo (TEE) and fluoroscopy images intraoperatively. Since the TEE probe is always visible in the fluoroscopy image, it is possible to track it using fiducial-based single-perspective pose estimation. In this study, inherent probe tracking performance was assessed, and TEE to fluoroscopy registration accuracy and robustness were evaluated. Results demonstrated probe tracking errors of below 0.6 mm and 0.2°, a 2-D RMS registration error of 1.5 mm, and a tracking failure rate of below 1%. In addition to providing live registration and better accuracy and robustness compared to existing TEE probe tracking methods, this system is designed to be suitable for clinical use. It is fully automatic, requires no additional operating room hardware, does not require intraoperative calibration, maintains existing procedure and imaging workflow without modification, and can be implemented in all cardiac centers at extremely low cost.