Patent ID: 6129667
Filing Date: 2000-10-10
Classification: A61B

Abstract:
A system for creating a tissue map of a lumen within a subject comprising:a) an invasive device for insertion into a subject;b) an optical spectrum acquisition device in an insertion end of the invasive device, disposed to project a light beam to irradiate the lumen at an angular displacement .theta. around the insertion end of the invasive device, and to receive reflected light, the optical spectrum acquisition device being adapted to create a signal representing the light spectrum reflected from the lumen, and the optical spectrum acquisition device being adapted to measure a respective diameter of the lumen at a respective location of the invasive device within the lumen;c) at least one device locating means attached to the insertion end of the invasive device;d) a tracking means for tracking locations of the device locating means within the subject;e) a rotation sensor for measuring the angular displacement .theta. of the irradiating beam;f) a storage device capable of storing an indication of tissue type and corresponding 3D locations for later retrieval;g) a display;h) a look up device coupled to each of the following: the optical spectrum acquisition device, the storage device, the display, the tracking means and the rotation sensor, the look up device being configured to convert the tracked location from the tracking means in correspondence with the angular displacement of the irradiating beam and the respective diameter, to estimate a 3D location of the lumen reflecting the irradiating beam, said look up device to correlate the reflected light spectrum to a color frequency stored in the look up device indicating a tissue type, to store the tissue type along with the 3D location represented in the storage device, and to display the 3D locations and corresponding tissue type as a tissue map on the display.