Patent ID: 11918392
Assignee: GE PRECISION HEALTHCARE LLC
Field: Medical technology (Instruments)
Classification: CPC A | IPC A

Claim 0:
1. A method for guiding a biopsy system while performing a biopsy procedure, the method comprising the steps of:
providing a mammography system comprising:
a gantry disposed on a support surface and including an X-ray source, an X-ray detector alignable with the X-ray source, and a compression paddle moveable relative to the X-ray detector to secure a patient breast therebetween;
a biopsy system mounted to the gantry, the biopsy system including a movable robotic arm secured to the gantry, and a biopsy device disposed on the robotic arm opposite the gantry, the biopsy device including a biopsy needle operably connected to the biopsy device opposite the robotic arm;
a control system operably connected to the gantry to control operation of the X-ray source and X-ray detector to generate X-ray image data in an imaging mode of the mammography system, and to control operation of the biopsy system in a biopsy mode of the mammography system, the control system including a central processing unit and interconnected database for processing the X-ray image data from the X-ray detector, a display operably connected to the control system for presenting information to a user, and a user interface operably connected to the control system to enable user input to the control system; and
a vision guidance system disposed on the gantry and operably connected to the control system, the vision guidance system including at least one camera operable to generate images of the robotic arm and the biopsy device and the biopsy needle to guide movement of the biopsy system;

positioning a patient breast between the X-ray detector and the compression paddle;
generating X-ray image data during the imaging mode;
determining a region of interest within the patient breast using the generated X-ray image data;
obtaining a number of images of the robotic arm and the biopsy device and biopsy needle with the vision guidance system;
determining a position of the biopsy system relative to the region of interest from the number of images;
computing a movement direction based on the position of the biopsy system relative to the region of interest; and
moving the robotic arm and the biopsy device and the biopsy needle towards the region of interest based on the movement direction.