CN114886521A

CN114886521A - Device and method for determining the position of a puncture needle

Info

Publication number: CN114886521A
Application number: CN202210527426.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 罗中宝; 陈昌; 张朕华
Original assignee: Shanghai Remedicine Co ltd
Current assignee: Shanghai Remedicine Co ltd
Priority date: 2022-05-16
Filing date: 2022-05-16
Publication date: 2022-08-12

Abstract

An embodiment of the present disclosure provides an apparatus for determining the position of a puncture needle, comprising: an image acquisition unit configured to acquire at least two frames of ultrasound images associated with a puncture point, wherein the at least two frames of ultrasound images are temporally sampled ultrasound images associated with a same target depth; a comparison unit configured to compare pixel values of corresponding positions of two frames of ultrasound images of the at least two frames of ultrasound images and record a plurality of position points where an absolute value of a difference in pixel values is greater than a first threshold; and a determination unit configured to determine a position range in which adjacent position points among the plurality of position points are located as the position of the puncture needle. Additionally, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method for determining the position of a puncture needle.

Description

Device and method for determining the position of a puncture needle

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to medical devices and, more particularly, to an apparatus for determining the position of a puncture needle and a method for determining the position of a puncture needle.

Background

Lancing to obtain a tissue sample is a common medical practice. Two physicians are currently required to perform needle biopsy procedures, one of which is responsible for performing needle aspiration based on a predetermined biopsy location, and the other of which is responsible for manually recording the location of the needle based on ultrasound images. The disadvantages of this method are: the physician in charge of the puncture needs to interact with the physician in charge of the recording and wait until the recording is completed before performing the puncture of the next needle. The operation is low in efficiency and low in precision.

Therefore, there is a need for a device capable of automatically and accurately recording the position of the needle insertion, that is, a medical apparatus capable of assisting a doctor in determining the position of the puncture needle, thereby improving recording efficiency and reducing the labor consumption of the doctor.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the technical problems mentioned in the background art, that is, the existing ultrasound imaging apparatus can only display an ultrasound image and then determine the position of the puncture needle subjectively by the operating physician through the past experience, but cannot automatically determine the position of the puncture needle according to objective data, the inventors of the present disclosure have innovated to realize the determination of the position of the puncture needle by comparing the ultrasound images, thereby solving the technical problems.

In particular, a first aspect provides an apparatus for determining the position of a puncture needle, the apparatus comprising:

an image acquisition unit configured to acquire at least two frames of ultrasound images associated with a puncture point, wherein the at least two frames of ultrasound images are temporally sampled ultrasound images associated with a same target depth;

a comparison unit configured to compare pixel values of corresponding positions of two frames of ultrasound images of the at least two frames of ultrasound images and record a plurality of position points where an absolute value of a difference in pixel values is greater than a first threshold; and

a determination unit configured to determine a position range in which adjacent position points among the plurality of position points are located as the position of the puncture needle.

In the embodiment according to the present disclosure, since there is a large difference in pixel value between the puncture needle and the general target tissue in the ultrasound image, based on this, the inventors of the present disclosure thought to compare the ultrasound images of the same position before and after the puncture needle is inserted, thereby being able to accurately determine the position of the puncture needle.

Preferably, in an embodiment according to the present disclosure, the first threshold value ranges from 45 to 55. More preferably, in an embodiment according to the present disclosure, the image acquisition unit is configured as an ultrasound probe.

In an embodiment according to the present disclosure, the determination unit is further configured for determining the puncture point from the ultrasound image. In this way, prior to performing a puncture, a puncture point is determined from the ultrasound image, and the solution disclosed according to the present disclosure is performed after the puncture point is determined.

In an embodiment according to the present disclosure, the comparison unit is further configured for comparing pixel values of locations of the two frames of ultrasound images within the first range of the puncture point. In this way, the amount of calculations can be further reduced, so that the requirements for the calculation unit in the device for determining a puncture point according to the present disclosure can be reduced, which on the one hand can reduce costs and on the other hand can also improve the calculation efficiency.

In one embodiment according to the present disclosure, the interval of the sampling time of the two frames of ultrasound images in the image acquisition unit is associated with a sampling frequency.

In one embodiment according to the present disclosure, the determining unit is further configured to:

determining a planned location associated with the puncture point;

determining a deviation of the position of the puncture needle from the planned position; and

and when the deviation is lower than a second threshold value, marking the position of the puncture needle.

In this way, inaccurate puncture positions of the contact pins can be eliminated, and recording is guaranteed to be carried out when the contact pins reach preset positions, so that the accuracy of samples obtained by puncturing is guaranteed.

In one embodiment according to the present disclosure, the apparatus further comprises:

a stop signal generation unit configured to generate a first needle insertion stop signal after marking a position of the puncture needle. In this way, the movement of the puncture needle can be stopped in time after the needle is inserted to the preset depth, thereby reducing the damage to the punctured tissue.

In one embodiment according to the present disclosure, the image obtaining unit is further configured to obtain a real-time ultrasound image of the target tissue in a cross-sectional manner during the insertion of the puncture needle;

the comparison unit is further configured to compare the real-time ultrasound image with a pre-acquired ultrasound image to determine whether the position of the target tissue is shifted; and is provided with

The stop signal generating unit is further configured to generate a second needle insertion stop signal in the case where the position is shifted.

In this way, the actual position of the target tissue can be taken into account during the needle insertion process, and the taken sample of the target tissue is meaningful only if the actual position of the target tissue meets the requirements, so that the sampling accuracy can be ensured and the damage to the target tissue can be reduced.

In an embodiment according to the present disclosure, the comparison unit is further configured for comparing a first contour of the target tissue determined by the real-time ultrasound image with a second contour of the target tissue determined by the pre-acquired ultrasound image.

In an embodiment according to the present disclosure, the comparing unit is further configured for performing the comparing of the first contour of the target tissue determined by the real-time ultrasound image with the second contour of the target tissue determined by the pre-acquired ultrasound image by at least one of:

an area overlap calculation method;

a pixel point offset calculation method;

a feature point calculation method on the contour; and/or

A gravity center registration calculation method.

In one embodiment according to the present disclosure, the image obtaining unit is further configured to obtain a real-time ultrasound image including a puncture needle in a sagittal fracture surface manner during the needle insertion of the puncture needle to determine a real traveling path of the puncture needle;

the determination unit is further configured to determine a planned advancing path according to the needle feeding point and the needle dropping point planned by the puncture needle;

the comparison unit is further configured to compare the real travel path and the planned travel path to determine a travel deviation; and is

The stop signal generating unit is further configured to generate a third needle feed stop signal when the travel deviation exceeds a predetermined threshold.

In this way, the actual position of the puncture needle can be taken into account in real time during the needle insertion process, and the taken sample of the target tissue is only meaningful if the actual position of the puncture needle meets the requirements, so that the sampling accuracy can be ensured and the damage to the target tissue can be reduced.

In one embodiment according to the present disclosure, the image acquiring unit is further configured to acquire a real needle feed point and a real needle fall point of the puncture needle based on the real-time ultrasound image, and the determining unit is further configured to determine a first three-dimensional coordinate of the real needle feed point and a second three-dimensional coordinate of the real needle fall point based on a predetermined conversion relationship, which is a conversion ratio between converting the real-time ultrasound image from an image coordinate system to a predetermined spatial coordinate system, and determine the real travel path based on the first three-dimensional coordinate and the second three-dimensional coordinate.

Further, a second aspect of the present disclosure provides a method for determining a position of a puncture needle, the method comprising:

acquiring at least two frames of ultrasound images associated with the puncture point, wherein the at least two frames of ultrasound images are temporally sampled ultrasound images associated with the same target depth;

comparing pixel values of corresponding positions of two frames of ultrasonic images in the at least two frames of ultrasonic images and recording a plurality of position points of which the absolute value of the pixel value difference is greater than a first threshold; and

and determining the position range of the adjacent position points in the plurality of position points as the position of the puncture needle.

In one embodiment according to the present disclosure, the method further comprises determining the puncture point from the ultrasound image. In this way, prior to performing the puncture, a puncture point is determined from the ultrasound image, and the solution disclosed according to the present disclosure is performed after the puncture point is determined.

In one embodiment according to the present disclosure, comparing the pixel values of the corresponding locations of two of the at least two frames of ultrasound images further comprises comparing the pixel values of the locations of the two frames of ultrasound images within the first range of puncture points. In this way, the amount of calculations can be further reduced, so that the requirements for the calculation unit in the device for determining a puncture point according to the present disclosure can be reduced, which on the one hand can reduce costs and on the other hand can also improve the calculation efficiency.

In one embodiment according to the present disclosure, the interval of the sampling time of the two frames of ultrasound images is associated with the sampling frequency.

In one embodiment according to the present disclosure, the method further comprises:

determining a planned location associated with the puncture point;

a first needle insertion stop signal is generated after the position of the puncture needle is marked. In this way, the movement of the puncture needle can be stopped in time after the needle is inserted to the preset depth, thereby reducing the damage to the punctured tissue.

acquiring a real-time ultrasonic image of a target tissue in a cross section mode in the needle inserting process of the puncture needle;

the comparison unit is further configured to compare the real-time ultrasound image with a pre-acquired ultrasound image to determine whether the position of the target tissue is shifted; and is

In one embodiment according to the present disclosure, comparing the real-time ultrasound image with a pre-acquired ultrasound image further comprises comparing a first contour of the target tissue determined by the real-time ultrasound image with a second contour of the target tissue determined by the pre-acquired ultrasound image.

In one embodiment consistent with the present disclosure, comparing the first contour of the target tissue determined from the real-time ultrasound image with the second contour of the target tissue determined from the pre-acquired ultrasound image is performed by at least one of:

an area overlap calculation method;

a pixel point offset calculation method;

a feature point calculation method on the contour; and/or

A gravity center registration calculation method.

acquiring a real-time ultrasonic image including a puncture needle in a vector section mode in the needle inserting process of the puncture needle so as to determine a real advancing path of the puncture needle;

determining a planned advancing path according to the needle feeding point and the needle dropping point planned by the puncture needle;

comparing the real travel path and the planned travel path to determine a travel deviation; and is

Generating a third needle feed stop signal when the travel deviation exceeds a predetermined threshold.

In one embodiment according to the present disclosure, the determining the true travel path of the puncture needle comprises:

acquiring a real needle feeding point and a real needle dropping point of the puncture needle according to the real-time ultrasonic image, wherein the determining unit is further configured to determine a first three-dimensional coordinate of the real needle feeding point and a second three-dimensional coordinate of the real needle dropping point according to a predetermined conversion relation, the conversion relation is a conversion ratio between converting the real-time ultrasonic image from an image coordinate system to a predetermined space coordinate system, and the real travel path is determined according to the first three-dimensional coordinate and the second three-dimensional coordinate.

In summary, the inventors of the present disclosure thought that, because there is a large difference in pixel values between the puncture needle and the normal target tissue in the ultrasound image, the ultrasound images at the same position before and after the puncture needle is inserted are compared, so that the position of the puncture needle can be accurately determined.

Drawings

The features, advantages and other aspects of embodiments of the present invention will become more apparent by referring to the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of example and not by way of limitation, several embodiments of the present invention and in which:

fig. 1 shows a schematic structural view of an apparatus 100 for determining the position of a puncture needle according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 2 shows a schematic diagram of an apparatus 200 for determining the position of a puncture needle according to another embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 3 illustrates a flow diagram of a method 300 for determining the position of a puncture needle according to one embodiment of the present disclosure; and

fig. 4 shows a block schematic diagram of the circuit configuration of an apparatus 400 for determining the position of a puncture needle according to another embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

Various exemplary embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Although the exemplary methods, apparatus, and devices described below include software and/or firmware executed on hardware among other components, it should be noted that these examples are merely illustrative and should not be considered as limiting. For example, it is contemplated that any or all of the hardware, software, and firmware components could be embodied exclusively in hardware, exclusively in software, or in any combination of hardware and software. Thus, while the following describes example methods and apparatus, persons of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate that the examples provided are not intended to limit the manner in which the methods and apparatus may be implemented.

Furthermore, the flowchart and block diagrams in the figures illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementations of methods and systems according to various embodiments of the present invention. It should be noted that the functions noted in the block may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based systems which perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions.

As used herein, the terms "comprising," "including," and similar terms are open-ended terms, i.e., "including/including but not limited to," meaning that additional items may be included as well. The term "based on" is "based at least in part on". The term "one embodiment" means "at least one embodiment"; the term "another embodiment" means "at least one additional embodiment," and the like.

As described above, in the conventional ultrasound imaging apparatus, although the position of the puncture needle can be determined subjectively by the operating physician based on past experience after displaying the ultrasound image, the determination of the position of the puncture needle cannot be automatically performed based on objective data. In view of this technical problem, the inventors of the present disclosure have innovated that the determination of the puncture needle position is realized by comparison of ultrasonic images, thereby solving the above technical problem.

In particular, the present disclosure presents an apparatus for determining the position of a puncture needle. An apparatus for determining the position of a puncture needle according to the present disclosure will be described below with the aid of fig. 1 and 2. In which fig. 1 shows a schematic configuration of an apparatus 100 for determining a position of a puncture needle according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, and fig. 2 shows a schematic configuration of an apparatus 200 for determining a position of a puncture needle according to another embodiment of the present disclosure.

As can be seen in fig. 1, the device 100 for determining the position of a puncture needle according to the present disclosure includes at least the following three parts. First, the apparatus 100 for determining the position of a puncture needle according to the present disclosure includes an image acquisition unit 110, the image acquisition unit 110 being configured to acquire at least two frames of ultrasound images associated with the puncture point. Here, the at least two frames of ultrasound images are temporally sampled ultrasound images associated with the same target depth. In addition, the apparatus 100 for determining the position of the puncture needle according to the present disclosure further includes a comparing unit 120, wherein the comparing unit 120 is configured to compare pixel values of corresponding positions of two frames of ultrasound images in the at least two frames of ultrasound images and record a plurality of position points with an absolute value of a difference between the pixel values being greater than a first threshold. Furthermore, the apparatus 100 for determining the position of the puncture needle according to the present disclosure further includes a determining unit 130, wherein the determining unit 130 is configured to determine a position range in which adjacent position points of the plurality of position points are located as the position of the puncture needle. In the embodiment shown in fig. 1 according to the present disclosure, since there is a large difference in pixel value between the puncture needle and the general target tissue in the ultrasound image, based on this, the inventors of the present disclosure thought to compare the ultrasound images of the same position before and after the puncture needle is inserted, thereby being able to accurately determine the position of the puncture needle.

The scheme can be used for recording the needle inserting position of the biopsy needle in the puncture biopsy process and can also be used for recording the needle inserting position of the ablation needle in the irreversible electroporation ablation operation process. Whether it is a needle biopsy or an ablation procedure, a probe device such as an ultrasound probe needs to be positioned in the subject according to a preset biopsy/ablation location and scan ultrasound images in a biopsy depth location plane (including a cross-sectional plane and a sagittal plane) in real time.

In order to be practical, i.e. not for determining the position of the puncture needle as soon as there is a difference in pixel value, a threshold value is provided, preferably in one embodiment according to the disclosure the first threshold value ranges from 45 to 55. More preferably, the value range of the first threshold is 50. Further preferably, in an embodiment according to the present disclosure, the image acquisition unit is configured as an ultrasound probe. That is, at least two frames of ultrasound images associated with the puncture point are acquired with an existing ultrasound probe, thereby implementing an apparatus 100 for determining the position of the puncture needle in accordance with the present disclosure.

Furthermore, in the embodiment shown in fig. 1 according to the present disclosure, the determination unit 130 is further configured for determining the puncture point from the ultrasound image. In this way, prior to performing the puncture, a puncture point is determined from the ultrasound image, and the solution disclosed according to the present disclosure is performed after the puncture point is determined. That is, prior to lancing, ultrasound images are used to determine the location at which lancing is desired, i.e., the puncture site. Then, after the current point to be punctured/needle inserting point is determined, screen recording software is started, and after the puncture of the needle is completed, a puncture screen recording file of the needle is stored for subsequent manual puncture and puncture report generation.

Next, a set of ultrasound images is acquired for the determined current puncture point. That is, the interval of the sampling time of the two frames of ultrasound images in the image acquisition unit is determined in association with the sampling frequency during the progress of the puncture. For example, the nth frame ultrasound image may be compared to the N + mth frame ultrasound image. Here, the value of M may depend on the number of frames acquired within a preset time range of the ultrasound acquisition card, for example, if the ultrasound acquisition card acquires 20 frames in 1 second, M may be set to 20, or M may be set to 30. The value of M may be set to a different value depending on the application scenario. For example, when N is set to 1 and M is set to 30, i.e., the 1 st frame of the group of ultrasound images is compared with the 31 st frame of ultrasound images, each pixel value in the 1 st frame of ultrasound images may be compared with the corresponding pixel value in the 31 st frame of ultrasound images one by one, and the difference of each pixel between the two frames of images may be determined.

It should be noted that due to tissue movement caused by human respiration or due to uneven release of ultrasound, the ultrasound image itself has some fluctuation in brightness, and in order to distinguish this fluctuation from the brightness change caused by the biopsy needle, the system only records the position of the point where the brightness change reaches a certain threshold. In an embodiment of the specific operation, for each pixel, it is determined whether the difference between the pixel values of the two frames is greater than 50, and if so, the pixel is taken as a pixel to be marked. That is, since the needle body is made of a metal material, it shows a high brightness under ultrasonic reflection. When the needle body enters a biopsy depth position, the biopsy needle leaves a brighter reflecting point in a plane, so that an image with the reflecting point when the biopsy needle enters an ultrasonic range can be acquired through ultrasonic, and the coordinate position of the reflecting point is acquired by a system for recording.

To improve the efficiency of determining the position of the puncture needle, the comparing unit 120 is further configured to compare pixel values of positions of the two frames of ultrasound images within the first range of the puncture point. In this way, the amount of calculations can be further reduced, so that the requirements for the calculation unit in the device 100 for determining a puncture point according to the present disclosure can be reduced, which on the one hand can reduce costs and on the other hand can also improve the calculation efficiency. The apparatus 100 for determining the position of a puncture needle according to the present disclosure reads and records the position of a point where the brightness reaches a certain threshold value only within a certain time period after a recording instruction is issued by the puncture physician, and the recording instruction may be transmitted through an instruction button on the biopsy needle or a foot switch provided under the physician's foot.

In the embodiment illustrated in fig. 1 according to the present disclosure, the determining unit 130 is further configured for: determining a planned location associated with the puncture point; determining a deviation of the position of the puncture needle from the planned position; and when the deviation is lower than a second threshold value, marking the position of the puncture needle. In this way, inaccurate puncture positions of the contact pins can be eliminated, and recording is guaranteed to be carried out when the contact pins reach preset positions, so that the accuracy of samples obtained by puncturing is guaranteed. That is to say, after the preset number of to-be-marked pixel points are judged to be connected, the center position of the region can be determined, and whether the distance between the center position of the region and the current puncture planning position is greater than the preset number of pixel distances, for example, greater than 50 pixel distances, is judged. If the puncture needle is in the normal state, the puncture needle is marked, the marking is not carried out, and after the subsequent puncture is finished, the video file of the corresponding puncture needle is called and marked manually. Specifically, a puncture needle to be manually calibrated is determined, a calibration player is called out, a video file of the puncture needle is played, and manual calibration is performed based on the video file. Whether automatically calibrated or manually calibrated, for example, may be marked as indicated by a red dot. After marking, i.e., after the red spot appears, a prompt message or voice may also be sent to inform the physician or robotic arm that the associated needle has been punctured into place and is not to be inserted further. It should be noted that, for the current puncture needle, if no red spot appears, that is, under the condition that the current puncture needle is not marked, the doctor can also pull out the puncture needle and insert the needle again.

The system is recording, the physician can simultaneously take a biopsy, after which the physician withdraws the biopsy needle and performs a puncture of the next location. The system records a plurality of puncture locations during this process. In addition, the system will save the entire biopsy procedure in video form for further review. After the recording is finished, the doctor can display the picture previews of all puncture positions by clicking the preview button system, the doctor can check the pictures, and if the doctor finds that the specific puncture position has a question, the doctor can manually double-click to select the puncture needle picture in question and call out a calibrated video player. The system will automatically display a progress prompt on the progress bar of the video player indicating that the actual puncture needle location is likely to occur. The mode adopted at this time is as follows: the system can rapidly process a video once, the pixel value of each pixel of each frame of the video is determined, then the pixel value variation difference of corresponding positions within 30 frames is compared before and after, the part exceeding the set threshold value is used as the position where the puncture needle appears at a high probability and is marked on the video progress bar, and therefore a doctor can conveniently open a video file to rapidly position and mark the position. Then, the doctor quickly advances to a proper position, manually marks the position of the actual puncture needle, and clicks the closing symbol at the upper right corner of the video player after the completion of the marking, so that the correction can be successful.

As shown in fig. 2, the apparatus 200 for determining the position of the puncture needle according to the present disclosure includes a stop signal generating unit 240 in addition to the three parts included in the apparatus 100 for determining the position of the puncture needle shown in fig. 1. Specifically, first, the apparatus 200 for determining the position of a puncture needle according to the present disclosure includes an image acquisition unit 210, and the image acquisition unit 210 is configured to acquire at least two frames of ultrasound images associated with a puncture point. Here, the at least two frames of ultrasound images are temporally sampled ultrasound images associated with the same target depth. In addition, the apparatus 200 for determining the position of the puncture needle according to the present disclosure further includes a comparing unit 220, wherein the comparing unit 220 is configured to compare pixel values of corresponding positions of two frames of ultrasound images in the at least two frames of ultrasound images and record a plurality of position points with an absolute value of a difference between the pixel values being greater than a first threshold.

Furthermore, the apparatus 200 for determining the position of the puncture needle according to the present disclosure further includes a determining unit 230, wherein the determining unit 230 is configured to determine a position range in which adjacent position points of the plurality of position points are located as the position of the puncture needle. In addition, the apparatus 200 for determining the position of the puncture needle according to the present disclosure further includes a stop signal generating unit 240. In summary, the stop signal generating unit 240 is configured to generate a first needle insertion stop signal after marking the position of the puncture needle. In this way, the movement of the puncture needle can be stopped in time after the needle is inserted to the preset depth, thereby reducing the damage to the punctured tissue. In the embodiment shown in fig. 2 according to the present disclosure, since there is a large difference in pixel value between the puncture needle and the general target tissue in the ultrasound image, based on this, the inventors of the present disclosure thought to compare the ultrasound images of the same position before and after the puncture needle is inserted, thereby being able to accurately determine the position of the puncture needle.

In order to reduce the damage to the target tissue, the needle insertion may be stopped after the needle insertion position is marked, or the needle insertion may be stopped. For example, the needle insertion may need to be stopped after the target tissue location has shifted. At this time, the image obtaining unit 210 is further configured to obtain a real-time ultrasound image of the target tissue in a cross-sectional manner during the needle insertion process of the puncture needle, and the comparing unit 220 is further configured to compare the real-time ultrasound image with a pre-obtained ultrasound image to determine whether the position of the target tissue is shifted; and the stop signal generating unit 240 is further configured to generate a second needle insertion stop signal if the position is shifted. In this way, the actual position of the target tissue can be taken into account during the needle insertion process, and the taken sample of the target tissue is meaningful only if the actual position of the target tissue meets the requirements, so that the sampling accuracy can be ensured and the damage to the target tissue can be reduced.

At this time, for example, the comparing unit 220 is further configured to compare a first contour of the target tissue determined by the real-time ultrasound image with a second contour of the target tissue determined by the pre-acquired ultrasound image. In particular, since the physician may cause focal displacement, such as prostate displacement, during insertion of the needle. The present disclosure also adds a contour detection function. Specifically, the outline of the prostate is first outlined after the ultrasound acquisition, and at this time, an ultrasound image marked with the prostate outline can be obtained by performing dilation and erosion in advance using, for example, an Open Source Computer Vision Library (OpenCV) in the prior art, and is recorded as "original prostate outline 1", then in the process of puncturing, "prostate outline 2" can be obtained in real time, and then "original prostate outline 1" and "prostate outline 2" are compared to determine the displacement amount, if the displacement amount is greater than a preset threshold, it is determined that the prostate has displaced during the puncturing process, and the displacement information is prompted to a physician in a voice or text manner to provide reference for the subsequent puncturing of the physician.

For example, during the puncturing process, the ultrasound probe may acquire a plurality of "prostate contours 2" in real time, for example, 30 "prostate contours 2" in 1 second, and in order to determine whether a focal region (e.g., prostate) is displaced during the puncturing process, each "prostate contour 2" acquired in real time during the puncturing process may be compared to determine a displacement amount, and if the displacement amount is greater than a preset threshold, it is determined that the prostate is displaced during the puncturing process. For example, the determination mechanism may be configured to determine that the prostate has been displaced when a "prostate contour 2" is found to be present and compared with the "original prostate contour 1" by an amount greater than a preset threshold. For example, the determination mechanism may be further configured to determine that the prostate has been displaced when a preset number of "prostate contours 2" (e.g., 10 images out of 30 images, or 10 consecutive images) are found to be compared with the "original prostate contours 1" and the amount of displacement is greater than a preset threshold.

In a specific comparison, the comparing unit 220 is further configured to perform the comparison of the first contour of the target tissue determined by the real-time ultrasound image and the second contour of the target tissue determined by the pre-acquired ultrasound image by at least one of an area overlap calculating method, a pixel point offset calculating method, a feature point calculating method on contour, and/or a center-of-gravity registration calculating method. Specifically, it is found that there is a "prostate contour 2" that is compared with the "original prostate contour 1" to determine the amount of displacement, in the following ways:

the area overlapping calculation method comprises the following steps: specifically, first, an area 1 of the "original prostate contour 1" and an area 2 of the "prostate contour 2" are calculated, respectively, and the overlap ratio of the "original prostate contour 1" and the "prostate contour 2" is calculated based on the area 1 and the area 2, and it is determined that the overlap ratio is shifted if it is less than 95%, for example. For example, if the overlap ratio is less than 90%, it is determined that a shift has occurred. The overlap rate threshold may be set to different values according to different application scenarios.

The pixel point offset calculation method comprises the following steps: traversing each pixel in the two pictures of the "prostate outline 2" and the "original prostate outline 1", and determining the offset of each pixel point on the outline in the "prostate outline 2", for example, if 10 pixel points on the outline are all offset by 10 pixels, it is determined that the "prostate outline 2" is offset.

The method for calculating the characteristic points on the contour comprises the following steps: and taking the feature points on the contour, for example, taking 4 feature points on the contour, and if 1 feature point in the 4 feature points is shifted by 50 pixels, determining that the shift occurs. For example, the weighted values of the 4 feature points may be taken, and if the weighted values of the 4 feature points are shifted by 50 pixels, it is determined that the shift has occurred.

The gravity center registration calculation method comprises the following steps: and judging whether the contour is shifted or not by adopting a gravity center registration mode.

Further preferably, in order to reduce damage to the target tissue, the needle insertion is stopped in addition to the above-described case where the target tissue is displaced after the needle insertion position is marked, and the needle insertion is stopped in some other cases. For example, it is also necessary to stop the needle insertion when the needle insertion path is deviated during the needle insertion process to reduce the damage to the target tissue. At this time, the image obtaining unit 210 is further configured to obtain a real-time ultrasound image including the puncture needle in a sagittal fracture surface manner during the needle insertion process of the puncture needle to determine a real advancing path of the puncture needle; the determination unit 230 is further configured to determine a planned advancing path according to the planned needle feeding point and needle dropping point of the puncture needle; the comparing unit 220 is further configured for comparing the real travel path and the planned travel path to determine a travel deviation; and the stop signal generating unit 240 is further configured to generate a third needle feed stop signal when the travel deviation exceeds a predetermined threshold. In this way, the actual position of the puncture needle can be taken into account in real time during the needle insertion process, and the taken sample of the target tissue is only meaningful if the actual position of the puncture needle meets the requirements, so that the sampling accuracy can be ensured and the damage to the target tissue can be reduced. At this time, the image obtaining unit 210 is further configured to obtain a real needle feeding point and a real needle dropping point of the puncture needle based on the real-time ultrasound image, and the determining unit 230 is further configured to determine a first three-dimensional coordinate of the real needle feeding point and a second three-dimensional coordinate of the real needle dropping point based on a predetermined conversion relationship, which is a conversion ratio between converting the real-time ultrasound image from an image coordinate system to a predetermined spatial coordinate system, and determine the real advancing path based on the first three-dimensional coordinate and the second three-dimensional coordinate.

Specifically, in order to feed back the offset amount of the needle insertion in real time when the needle is inserted, that is, for example, when the puncture needle is inserted into a lesion, and thereby remind the doctor whether to pull out the puncture needle for re-puncture, the doctor also provides the following detection method for determining the needle insertion path error. Firstly, acquiring an ultrasonic vector section image in a needle inserting process in real time; and then, determining the pixel value of the ultrasonic vector cross-section image, and setting a threshold value to extract an insertion pixel point. Here, because the puncture needle body is made of metal, it can show higher luminance under the ultrasonic reflection, namely can be a bright line on the sagittal sectional image to based on the ultrasonic sagittal sectional image, through the mode that sets up the threshold value, can extract the needle entering pixel. And then, carrying out coordinate transformation on the needle inserting pixel points so as to draw a needle inserting path. Specifically, after pixel points are extracted, the ultrasonic vector cross-section image is converted into a space coordinate system from a pixel coordinate system, and the physical coordinate of each needle inserting point is determined in the space coordinate system, so that a needle inserting path is drawn; and finally, after the needle inserting path is drawn, comparing the drawn needle inserting path with a planned needle inserting path (which is placed on an ultrasonic sagittal section layer in advance) in real time, so that whether the needle inserting path deviates or not and the deviation amount can be judged. For example, when the angle between the drawn needle insertion path and the planned needle insertion is greater than 5 degrees, the deviation is considered to occur, and the deviation is provided to a doctor in a voice or text mode for reference to judge whether the puncture needle is pulled out for re-puncture, otherwise, the deviation is not considered to occur.

In the process of judging the deviation of the needle insertion path by comparing the needle insertion path of the sagittal section with the planned needle insertion path, if the needle inserting path cannot be detected in the sagittal section, the cross section image 1 of the needle inserting point and the cross section image 2 of the needle dropping point (the puncture needle is punctured in place, and red marks are displayed on the cross section) are obtained, the coordinate 1 of the needle inserting point in the cross section image 1 is determined, and coordinates 2 of the needle drop point in the cross-sectional image 2, a straight line can be determined based on the coordinates 1 and 2, the straight line is the needle inserting path, then the needle inserting path is compared with the planned needle inserting path, therefore, the offset of the needle insertion is determined, the offset is provided for reference to a doctor in a voice or text mode, and the doctor judges whether to pull out the puncture needle for re-puncture. The technical scheme can reduce the manpower in the biopsy process, realize the efficient and accurate needle inserting position recording, and the system also has the data review and correction function, and is favorable for doctors to quickly and effectively review and correct suspicious recorded data.

Fig. 3 illustrates a flow diagram of a method 300 for determining the position of a puncture needle according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. As can be seen in FIG. 3, a method 300 for determining the position of a needle includes the steps of: first, in method step 310, at least two frames of ultrasound images associated with the puncture point are obtained, wherein the at least two frames of ultrasound images are temporally sampled ultrasound images associated with the same target depth; then, in method step 320, comparing pixel values of corresponding positions of two frames of ultrasound images in the at least two frames of ultrasound images and recording a plurality of position points where an absolute value of a difference between the pixel values is greater than a first threshold; and next, in a method step 330, the location range in which adjacent location points of the plurality of location points are located is determined as the location of the puncture needle.

In one embodiment according to the present disclosure, the method 300 further includes determining a puncture point from the ultrasound image. In this way, prior to performing the puncture, a puncture point is determined from the ultrasound image, and the solution disclosed according to the present disclosure is performed after the puncture point is determined.

In one embodiment consistent with the present disclosure, the method 300 further comprises:

determining a planned location associated with the puncture point;

In such a way, inaccurate puncture positions of the contact pins can be eliminated, and recording is ensured to be carried out when the contact pins reach the preset positions, so that the accuracy of samples obtained by puncture is also ensured.

an area overlap calculation method;

a pixel point offset calculation method;

a feature point calculation method on the contour; and/or

A gravity center registration calculation method.

comparing the real travel path and the planned travel path to determine a travel deviation; and is provided with

Further, alternatively, the above-described method can be implemented by a computer-readable storage medium. Computer readable storage media has computer readable program instructions embodied thereon for performing various embodiments of the present invention. The computer readable storage medium may be a tangible device that can hold and store the instructions for use by the instruction execution device. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic memory device, a magnetic memory device, an optical memory device, an electromagnetic memory device, a semiconductor memory device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer readable storage medium would include the following: a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a Random Access Memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), a Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a Digital Versatile Disc (DVD), a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanical coding device, such as punch cards or in-groove projection structures having instructions stored thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. Computer-readable storage media as used herein is not to be construed as transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freely propagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagating through a waveguide or other transmission medium (e.g., optical pulses through a fiber optic cable), or electrical signals transmitted through electrical wires.

Fig. 4 shows a block schematic diagram of the circuit configuration of an apparatus 400 for determining the position of a puncture needle according to another embodiment of the present disclosure. It should be appreciated that the apparatus 400 for determining the position of a puncture needle may implement the functions of the method 300 for determining the position of a puncture needle of fig. 3. As can be seen in fig. 4, the apparatus 400 includes a Central Processing Unit (CPU)401 (e.g., a processor) that can perform various suitable actions and processes in accordance with computer program instructions stored in a Read Only Memory (ROM)402 or loaded from a storage unit 408 into a Random Access Memory (RAM) 403. In the RAM 403, various programs and data necessary for the operation of the apparatus for determining the position of the puncture needle 400 can also be stored. The CPU 401, ROM 402, and RAM 403 are connected to each other via a bus 404. An input/output (I/O) interface 405 is also connected to bus 404.

Various components of the apparatus 400 for determining the position of the puncture needle are connected to the I/O interface 405, including: an input unit 406 such as a keyboard, a mouse, or the like; an output unit 407 such as various types of displays, speakers, and the like; a storage unit 408 such as a magnetic disk, optical disk, or the like; and a communication unit 409 such as a network card, modem, wireless communication transceiver, etc. The communication unit 409 allows the apparatus 400 for determining the position of the puncture needle to exchange information/data with other devices via a computer network such as the internet and/or various telecommunication networks.

The various methods described above, such as the method 300 for determining the position of the puncture needle, can be performed by the processing unit 401. For example, in some embodiments, the method 300 for determining the position of the puncture needle may be implemented as a computer software program tangibly embodied on a machine-readable medium, such as the storage unit 408. In some embodiments, part or all of the computer program may be loaded and/or installed onto the apparatus 400 via the ROM 402 and/or the communication unit 409. When the computer program is loaded into RAM 403 and executed by CPU 401, one or more acts or steps of method 300 for determining the position of a puncture needle described above may be performed.

In general, the various exemplary embodiments of this invention may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, firmware, logic or any combination thereof. Certain aspects may be implemented in hardware, while other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device. While various aspects of the embodiments of the invention may be illustrated and described as block diagrams, flow charts, or using some other pictorial representation, it is well understood that the blocks, apparatus, systems, techniques or methods described herein may be implemented in, as non-limiting examples, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

Although the various exemplary embodiments of the present invention described above may be implemented in hardware or dedicated circuitry, the apparatus 400 for determining the position of the needle described above may be implemented in either hardware or software, because: in the 90's of the 20 th century, a technological improvement could easily be either a hardware improvement (e.g., an improvement in the structure of a circuit such as a diode, a transistor, a switch, etc.) or a software improvement (e.g., an improvement in the process flow). However, as the technology continues to develop, many of the current method flow improvements can be almost realized by programming the improved method flow into the hardware circuit, in other words, by programming different programs for the hardware circuit to obtain the corresponding hardware circuit structure, i.e. realizing the change of the hardware circuit structure, so that such method flow improvements can also be regarded as direct improvements of the hardware circuit structure. Thus, it cannot be said that an improvement in the process flow cannot be realized by hardware physical modules. For example, a Programmable Logic Device (PLD), such as a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), is an integrated circuit whose Logic functions are determined by a user programming the Device. A digital system is "integrated" on a piece of programmable logic device by the designer's own programming without requiring the chip manufacturer to design and fabricate application specific integrated circuit chips. Furthermore, nowadays, instead of manually making an Integrated Circuit chip, such Programming is often implemented by "logic compiler 1 er" software, which is similar to a software compiler used in program development and writing, but the original code before compiling is also written by a specific Programming Language, which is called Hardware Description Language (HDL), and HDL is not only one kind, but many kinds, such as abel (advanced Boolean Expression Language), ahdl (advanced Hardware Description Language), communication, pl (core unity Programming Language), HDCal, JHDL (Java Hardware Description Language), Lava, Lola, HDL, pamm, hard Language (Hardware Description Language), and vhigh Language (Hardware Description Language), which are currently used in the most popular fields. It will also be apparent to those skilled in the art that hardware circuitry that implements the logical method flows can be readily obtained by merely slightly programming the method flows into an integrated circuit using the hardware description languages described above.

The computer-readable program instructions or computer program products for executing the embodiments of the present invention can also be stored in the cloud, and when the call is needed, the user can access the computer-readable program instructions stored in the cloud for executing one embodiment of the present invention through the mobile internet, the fixed network, or other networks, so as to implement the technical solutions disclosed in the embodiments of the present invention.

While embodiments of the invention have been described with reference to several particular embodiments, it should be understood that embodiments of the invention are not limited to the particular embodiments disclosed. The embodiments of the invention are intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. The scope of the claims is to be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent structures and functions.

Claims

1. An apparatus for determining the position of a puncture needle, the apparatus comprising:

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first threshold value ranges from 45 to 55.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the image acquisition unit is configured as an ultrasound probe.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the determination unit is further configured for determining a puncture point from an ultrasound image.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the comparing unit is further configured for comparing pixel values of locations of the two frames of ultrasound images within the first range of puncture points.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the interval of sampling time of the two frames of ultrasound images in the image acquisition unit is associated with a sampling frequency.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the determining unit is further configured to:

determining a planned location associated with the puncture point;

8. The apparatus of claim 7, further comprising:

a stop signal generation unit configured to generate a first needle insertion stop signal after marking a position of the puncture needle.

9. The apparatus of claim 1,

the image acquisition unit is also configured to acquire real-time ultrasonic images of target tissues in a cross section mode during the needle inserting process of the puncture needle;

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the comparison unit is further configured to compare a first contour of the target tissue determined from the real-time ultrasound image with a second contour of the target tissue determined from the pre-acquired ultrasound image.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the comparison unit is further configured to perform the comparing of the first contour of the target tissue determined from the real-time ultrasound image with the second contour of the target tissue determined from the pre-acquired ultrasound image by at least one of:

an area overlap calculation method;

a pixel point offset calculation method;

a feature point calculation method on the contour; and/or

A gravity center registration calculation method.

12. The apparatus of claim 1,

the image acquisition unit is further configured to acquire a real-time ultrasonic image including the puncture needle in a sagittal fracture surface mode during the needle insertion process of the puncture needle so as to determine a real travelling path of the puncture needle;

13. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the image obtaining unit is further configured to obtain a real needle feeding point and a real needle dropping point of the puncture needle based on the real-time ultrasound image, and the determining unit is further configured to determine a first three-dimensional coordinate of the real needle feeding point and a second three-dimensional coordinate of the real needle dropping point based on a predetermined conversion relationship, which is a conversion ratio between converting the real-time ultrasound image from an image coordinate system to a predetermined spatial coordinate system, and determine the real travel path based on the first three-dimensional coordinate and the second three-dimensional coordinate.

14. A method for determining the position of a needle, comprising: