Philips Research Technology Backgrounder
Image-Guidance Technologies |
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Philips is performing clinical studies with new image-guidance
technologies for increasing the range and quality of minimally
invasive therapies in close cooperation with National Institutes of
Health (NIH). Minimally invasive approaches reduce trauma, thus
minimizing damage to healthy tissue and requiring less pain
medication, which is better for the patient and shortens recovery
times. For minimally invasive interventions, however, as opposed to
open surgery, interventional specialists need other information
sources to be able to view their actions. By leveraging its unique
position as a provider of diverse medical imaging modalities,
Philips can integrate images from different sources and superimpose
navigational information to boost the confidence of interventional
clinicians and help improve patient care.
The full results from this study, which addresses applications such as biopsies and radio-frequency ablations (RFA) in the liver, spine, and lung, will be published in early 2006. As technical hurdles are overcome, a wider range of uses, such as vessel stenting, electrophysiology procedures, laparoscopy and bronchoscopy should become clear. Philips is working closely with NIH to ensure the greatest possible application coverage. Integrating pre-acquired and real-time images from different sources leverages the strengths of individual modalities. Fusing anatomical information (from a CT scan, for example) with real-time, functional information (from ultrasound, for example) makes it easier for clinicians to picture, understand and track a patient’s condition. This increases the efficiency of diagnosis, procedure planning, therapy, and post-procedural care, making an important contribution to improving the standard of treatment. Adding real-time tracking for interventional tools (needles, catheters, and so on) means their position can be registered with the medical image too. This is important support for minimally invasive and interventional procedures. By increasing the radiologist’s confidence in placing the tools, this can potentially reduce procedure times, improve accuracy, and increase safety. One approach explored by Philips uses non-line-of-sight electromagnetic (EM) tracking with ultrasound and CT imaging. Scientists at Philips Research have developed a multi-modal interventional workstation and integrated electro-magnetic (EM) tracking technologies to support interventional procedures. Miniaturized sensor coils are built into needles and catheters. By processing the signal from the sensor coil, its position in an electromagnetic field in the operating theatre can pinpoint its position in space. This is superimposed on the pre-acquired 3D image from the CT. Further sensor coils in ultrasound transducers allow fusing real-time images into the CT image. Compared with tracking a catheter using fluoroscopy, this method means far greater accuracy, and a much lower radiation dosage for the patient, as well as the clinical personnel. Finished products, which depend on successful clinical trials and approval by government agencies, are expected within a few years. This is in time to meet the needs of the explosive trend in minimally invasive surgery and interventional procedures. RFAs in the liver are projected to grow from about 4,000 in 2000 to 82,000 in 2010. RFAs in bone are projected to grow from about 100 to 100,000 in the same time. (source: MedMarket Diligence) |
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