Assessing the registration of CT-scan data to intra-operative X-rays by fusing X-rays and preoperative information

Abstract

This paper addresses a key issue of providing clinicians with visual feedback to validate a computer-generated registration of pre-operative and intra-operative data. With this feedback information, the clinician may decide to proceed with a computer-assisted intervention, revert to a manual intervention, or potentially provide information to the computer system to improve the registration. The paper focuses on total hip replacement (THR) surgery, but similar techniques could be applied to other types of interventions or therapy, including orthopedics, neurosurgery, and radiation therapy. Pre-operative CT data is used to plan the surgery (select an implant type, size and precise position), and is registered to intra-operative X-ray images, allowing to execute the plan: mill a cavity with the implant's shape. (Intra-operative X-ray images must be calibrated with respect to the surgical device executing the plan). One novel technique presented in this paper consists of simulating a post-operative X-ray image of the tissue of interest before doing the procedure, by projecting the registered implant onto an intra-operative X-ray image (corrected for distortion or not), providing clinicians with familiar and easy to interpret images. As an additional benefit, this method provides new means for comparing various strategies for registering pre-operative data to the physical space of the operating room.