METHOD AND DEVICE FOR RHINOSTEREOMETRIC MEASUREMENT

Abstract: In rhinostereometric measurement, the positions in a fixed coordinate system are determined for a number of points on the nasal mucosa of a test subject. To obtain comparable results on different measuring occasions, the head of the test subject must occupy the same position in the coordinate system every time. By determining the position of the test subject's face in the coordinate system on every occasion of rhinostereometric measurement and transposing the measuring position of the face in the coordinate system to a reference position, the values of the points in the nose can be corrected for the displacement of the face from the reference position that has taken place since the latest measurement, thereby to obtain comparable results that are always related to the reference position. Preferably, the position of the face in the coordinate system is determined by measuring the distance between fixed locations in the coordinate system and points in the test subject's face with the aid of distance-measuring lasers (8-12) mounted on a fixed frame (3) in the coordinate system. The displacement of the test subject's head is minimised by a mechanical fixing means (5) in the form of a spectacle frame. The measured values are processed in a computer (13).

Description: METHOD AND DEVICE FOR RHINOSTEREOMETRIC MEASUREMENT This invention relates to a method for rhinostereo¬ metric measurement as well as a device for implementing the method, comprising optical equipment for determining the coordinates of one or more points on a person's nasal mucosa. Rhinostereometry is a known optical method used for measuring the congestion of the nasal mucosa. The head of the person to be subjected to such measuring is fixed in a coordinate system. The positions in the coordinate sys¬ tem of a number of points on the nasal mucosa are then determined with the aid of a surgical microscope placed on a micrometer table so as to be movable in all three dimen- sions. Rhinostereometry is described in more detail in a doctoral thesis by Jan-Erik Juto: Rhinostereometry, Stock¬ holm, 1985, ISBN-91-7222-905-5. In order that the results of rhinostereometric mea¬ surements should be comparable, the head of the test sub- ject must occupy exactly the same position in the coordi¬ nate system every time. Positional accuracy has to be extremely high, since a point on the nasal mucosa moves about 4 mm at the most when the mucosa changes from a state of minimum congestion to one of maximum congestion. Such accuracy is hard to achieve. The object of the invention is to provide a method and a device making it possible to obtain comparable results in rhinostereometric measurements performed on different occasions. This object is achieved by a method having the dis¬ tinctive features recited in appended claim 1 and by a device having the distinctive features recited in appended claim 6. Preferred embodiments of the invention are defin¬ ed in the appended subclaims. Because the position of a person's face in the coor¬ dinate system is determined on each measuring occasion and is then transposed to a reference position in the coordi- nate system, comparable results can be obtained on diffe¬ rent measuring occasions regardless of the position of the face in the coordinate system by a corresponding transpo¬ sition of the coordinates of the measured point on the nasal mucosa. In this way, the person's head need not be fixed in exactly the same position on all measuring occa¬ sions, but the head may change positions between them. Preferably, the position of a person's face is deter¬ mined by contactless distance measurement from fixed loca- tions in the coordinate system, e.g. by means of radar, ultrasound or laser. At present, laser is preferred for reasons of accuracy. Also the coordinates of a point on the person's nasal mucosa are advantageously determined by laser instead of a surgical microscope. To increase the accuracy of the positional determina¬ tion, the movements of the person's head are advantageous¬ ly restricted by mechanical fixing means, e.g. in the form of a spectacle frame. Preferred embodiments of the method and the device according to the invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawing, show¬ ing an embodiment of the inventive device, some compo¬ nents being merely indicated schematically in the form of blocks. The drawing illustrates a vertically adjustable table 1, on which are mounted a vertically adjustable chin rest 2 and a fixed frame 3. The frame 3 is provided with two fixed limbs 4 on which a spectacle frame 5 having two pad bridges 6, 7 is movably arranged. The spectacle frame serves as a means for fixing the head of the person to be subjected to rhinostereometry. Five distance-measuring lasers 8-12 are fixedly arranged on the frame 3 and so directed that the laser beams of two lasers 8, 9 impinge upon the test subject's face at the temples, that the laser beam of one laser 10 impinges upon the forehead, and that the laser beams of two lasers 11, 12 impinge upon the face on each side of the root of the nose. At present, such aiming of the lasers is believed to be the most suitable for determining the position of the head in a fixed coordinate system with maximum accuracy. Also, the lasers are advantageously directed towards the forehead, the temples and the root of the nose, since the skull here is close beneath the skin, making the shape of the face always essentially the same in these places. Naturally, the lasers should not be directed towards parts of the face that may swell owing to lack of sleep, heat or the like. The lasers are arranged at a distance of about 1-5 cm from the test subject's face. Use should, of course, be made of lasers providing a high resolution at such a distance. The lasers 8-12 are connected to a com¬ puter 13 which contains the software for determining, on the basis of the distances measured by the lasers, the coordinates in a fixed coordinate system of the points in the test subject's face on which the laser beams impinge. Furthermore, the inventive device includes optical mea¬ suring equipment 14 (shown merely in the form of a block) for determining the coordinates of the points on the nasal mucosa. The optical measuring equipment 14 may in known manner include a surgical microscope having an objective and an eyepiece so chosen as to give a shallow depth of field. The microscope can be so arranged on a micrometer table as to be movable along the x-, y- and z-axes in the fixed coordinate system in which are determined the coor¬ dinates of points in the face and on the nasal mucosa. In order to determine the coordinates of points on the nasal mucosa, it has to be possible to determine the position of the microscope on the micrometer table. As a hitherto unknown alternative, the optical measuring equipment may include a scanning distance-measuring laser which scans a predetermined surface or a predetermined distance. The optical equipment is connected to the computer 13, such that the position, when using a microscope, or the measur¬ ed distance, when using a scanning laser, can be inputted into the computer 13. > 4 The function of the device, as well as the method for rhinostereometric measurement, will be described below. When a patient is to be subjected to rhinostereomet¬ ric measurement for the first time, he is asked to put his chin on the chin rest 2, and the spectacle frame 5 is then moved downwards over his face so that the pad bridges 6 and 7 come to be applied against the root of the nose. Optionally, the spectacle frame 5 may be provided with a pressure transducer (not shown) emitting a signal when the spectacle frame is applied against the test subject's face by at least a predetermined pressure. This is conducive to increasing the accuracy, making it possible to always apply the spectacle frame against the face with the same pressure. When the test subject's face thus has been fixed so that only small movements are possible, the distance- measuring lasers 8-12 are activated. The microscope is displaced so as to focus a desired point on the nasal mucosa, i.e. placing it in the depth of field. When this is the case, measurement begins by the operator pushing a button, whereupon the position of the microscope on the micrometer table is read and inputted into the computer 13, and the distances, measured by the lasers 8-12, to the points towards which the lasers are directed are inputted into the computer 13. The computer converts the distances measured by the lasers 8-12 into coordinates in a fixed coordinate system and stores the coordinates in the compu¬ ter memory as a set of reference coordinates. The computer 13 also calculates the coordinates of the point on the nasal mucosa for which the measurement has been performed. A more detailed description of how the coordinates of the point on the nasal mucosa are determined is found in the above-mentioned doctoral thesis. When the next point on the nasal mucosa is to be mea¬ sured, the test subject may have moved his head slightly in either direction so as to press harder against one pad bridge. Such movements of the head may, however, be com¬ pensated for by using the method and the device according to the invention. Owing to the lasers 8-12 measuring the distance to the points towards which they are directed when measuring on one point of the nasal mucosa, the com¬ puter 13 may calculate the coordinates of these points in the fixed coordinate system and thus determine the posi¬ tion occupied by the test subject's head when the most recent measurement in the nose was performed. By comparing the coordinates of the points in the face in the later measurement with the reference coordinates, the computer can determine how the coordinates of the point in the nose are to be corrected in order to compensate for the facial movements that have taken place. In practice, the coordi¬ nates of the points in the face from the later measurement can be transposed in the coordinate system so as to coin- cide with the reference coordinates, and the coordinates of the point in the nose be likewise transposed. Thus, the inventive method yields comparable results in different measurements also when the head does not occupy exactly the same position in the coordinate system on the diffe- rent measuring occasions. The reference coordinates from the first measurement are stored and used in all subse¬ quent measurements, so that the measured values can always be related to one another even when a long time has pass¬ ed. Finally, it should be pointed out that the number of lasers as well as their positions may vary. Of course, higher accuracy can be achieved by using a larger number of lasers.

Claims: CLAIMS 1. A method for rhinostereometric measurement, c h a r a c t e r i s e d by determining the position of a person's face in a coordinate system in order to define a reference position; determining the coordinates of at least one point on the person's nasal mucosa, the position of the person's face in the coordinate system being simul- taneously determined in order to define a measuring posi¬ tion; transposing the measuring position in the coordinate system so as to coincide with the reference position in the coordinate system; and transposing the coordinates of the point or points on the nasal mucosa in the same way in the coordinate system. 2. A method as set forth in claim 1, c h a r a c ¬ t e r i s e d by determining the position of the person's face in the coordinate system by contactlessly measuring the distance from a plurality of fixed locations in the coordinate system to a plurality of predetermined points in the person's face, and determining the coordinates of these points in the coordinate system; and transposing the reference position in the coordinate system so as to coincide with the measuring position by transposing the coordinates of said plurality of points in the measuring position to the coordinates of said plurality of points in the reference position. 3. A method as set forth in claim 1 or 2, c h a r ¬ a c t e r i s e d by measuring the distance to said plu- rality of points by laser. 4. A method as set forth in claim 1, 2 or 3, c h a r a c t e r i s e d by said plurality of points including points on the forehead, at the temples and at the root of the nose. 5. A method as set forth in any one of claims 1-4, c h a r a c t e r i s e d by determining the coordinates > 7 of a point on the person's nasal mucosa by measuring the distance to this point by laser. 6. A device for rhinostereometric measurement, com¬ prising optical equipment (14) for determining the coor- dinates of one or more points on a person's nasal mucosa, c h a r a c t e r i s e d by a plurality of distance meters (8-12) which are fixedly disposed in a coordinate system and each of which is adapted to measure the dis¬ tance to a point in a person's face in order to determine the coordinates of this point; and processing means (13) for transposing the coordinates of said plurality of points in the person's face to a set of predetermined reference coordinates and for performing the same transpo¬ sition of the coordinates of said one or more points on the person's nasal mucosa. 7. A device as set forth in claim 6, c h a r a c ¬ t e r i s e d in that the distance meters comprise a dis¬ tance-measuring laser. 8. A device as set forth in claim 6 or 7, c h a r - a c t e r i s e d in that the optical equipment comprises a distance-measuring laser. 9. A device as set forth in claim 6, 7 or 8, c h a r a c t e r i s e d in that it comprises means for mechanically fixing the person's head in the coordinate system.

Inventors: JUTO JAN-ERIK, JUTO, JAN-ERIK
Applicants: JUTO JAN ERIK, JUTO, JAN-ERIK
Application year: 1993
Main classification: A61B5
IPC codes: A61B5, A61B10, A61B19