Patent ID: 9020229
Filing Date: 2015-04-28
Classification: A61B,G06K,G06T

Abstract:
1. A medical method for observing the local motion of a medical implement in a lung of a subject comprising the steps of: a) receiving first image data that includes a lung tissue of the lung in a first state; b) receiving second image data that includes the lung tissue of the lung in a second state different than the first state; c) rigidly registering the first image data and the second image data with one another using an anatomical reference wherein the anatomical reference excludes the lung tissue and is a relatively fixed anatomical structure having minimal deflection between breathing states of the lung; d) based on the anatomical reference from the rigidly registering step, deforming at least one of the following: i) the first image data of the lung to match the second image data of the lung, and ii) the second image data of the lung to match the first image data of the lung by moving voxels in at least one of the first image data or the second image data until voxel intensity values of the first and second image data are matched; and e) generating a motion vector field of the magnitude and direction of local motion of the lung tissue based on the rigidly registering step and deforming step wherein the local motion of the lung tissue between first and second states is independent of the anatomical reference defined in the rigidly registering step.