Single-Camera Closed-Form Real-Time Needle Tracking for Ultrasound-Guided Needle Insertion

Many common needle intervention procedures are performed with ultrasound guidance because it is a flexible, cost-effective and widely available intra-operative imaging modality. In a needle insertion procedure with ultrasound guidance, real-time calculation and visualization of the needle trajectory can help to guide the choice of puncture site and needle angle to reach the target depicted in the ultrasound image. We found that it is feasible to calculate the needle trajectory with a single camera mounted directly on the ultrasound transducer by using the needle markings. Higher accuracy is achieved compared with other similar transducer-mounted needle trackers. We used an inexpensive, real-time and easy-to-use tracking method based on an automatic feature extraction algorithm and a closed-form method for pose estimation of the needle. The overall accuracy was 0.94 ± 0.46 mm.