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A visual odometry base-tracking system for intraoperative C-arm guidance

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International Journal of Computer Assisted Radiology and Surgery Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

C-arms are portable X-ray devices used to generate radiographic images in orthopedic surgical procedures. Evidence suggests that scouting images, which are used to aid in C-arm positioning, result in increased operation time and excess radiation exposure. C-arms are also primarily used qualitatively to view images, with limited quantitative functionality. Various techniques have been proposed to improve positioning, reduce radiation exposure, and provide quantitative measuring tools, all of which require accurate C-arm position tracking. While external stereo camera systems can be used for this purpose, they are typically considered too obtrusive. This paper therefore presents the development and verification of a low-profile, real-time C-arm base-tracking system using computer vision techniques.

Methods

The proposed tracking system, called OPTIX (On-board Position Tracking for Intraoperative X-rays), uses a single downward-facing camera mounted to the base of a C-arm. Relative motion tracking and absolute position recovery algorithms were implemented to track motion using the visual texture in operating room floors. The accuracy of the system was evaluated in a simulated operating room mounted on a real C-arm.

Results

The relative tracking algorithm measured relative translation position changes with errors of less than 0.75% of the total distance travelled, and orientation with errors below 5% of the cumulative rotation. With an error-correction step incorporated, OPTIX achieved C-arm repositioning with translation errors of less than \( 1.10 \pm 0.07 \)  mm and rotation errors of less than \( 0.17 \pm 0.02^\circ \). A display based on the OPTIX measurements enabled consistent C-arm repositioning within 5 mm of a previously stored reference position.

Conclusion

The system achieved clinically relevant accuracies and could result in a reduced need for scout images when re-acquiring a previous position. We believe that, if implemented in an operating room, OPTIX has the potential to reduce both operating time and harmful radiation exposure to patients and surgical staff.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the following for their support: Centre for Hip Health and Mobility (CHHM), Institute for Computing, Information, and Cognitive Systems (ICICS).

Funding

This work was funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Collaborative Health Research Projects Program (Grant No. 462233-2014-CHRPJ).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Luke Haliburton & Antony Hodgson

  2. Surgical Technologies Laboratory, Biomedical Engineering, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Hooman Esfandiari

  3. Department of Orthopaedics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Pierre Guy

  4. Department of Civil Engineering, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada

    Carolyn Anglin

  5. Biomedical Engineering, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada

    Carolyn Anglin

  6. McCaig Institute for Bone and Joint Health, Calgary, AB, Canada

    Carolyn Anglin

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  1. Luke Haliburton
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  2. Hooman Esfandiari
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  4. Carolyn Anglin
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  5. Antony Hodgson
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Luke Haliburton.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest related to this work.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study. This article does not contain patient data. All evaluations were carried out by the authors.

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Haliburton, L., Esfandiari, H., Guy, P. et al. A visual odometry base-tracking system for intraoperative C-arm guidance. Int J CARS 15, 1597–1609 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11548-020-02229-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11548-020-02229-5

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