Vertebral feature identification

US10251594B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• KONINIKLIJKE PHILIPS N.V. · NL

Inventors

• Tobias Klinder · Uelzen, DE
• Eberhard Sebastian Hansis · Hamburg, DE
• Michael Grass · Hanstedt, DE
• Dirk Schaefer · Hamburg, DE
• Hanno Homann · Hamburg, DE
• Christian Haase · Hamburg, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: Jan 7, 2016
• Grant date: Apr 9, 2019
• Expiry date: Jan 7, 2036

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G06V2201/033
• WIPO field: Medical technology
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

Minimally-invasive spinal inventions are often performed using fluoroscopic imaging methods, which can give a real-time impression of the location of a surgical instrument, at the expense of a small field of view. When operating on a spinal column, a small field of view can be a problem, because a medical professional is left with no reference vertebra in the fluoroscopy image, from which to identify a vertebra, which is the subject of the intervention. Identifying contiguous vertebrae is difficult because such contiguous vertebrae are similar in shape. However, characteristic features, which differentiate one vertebra from other vertebra, and which are visible in the fluoroscopic view, may be used to provide a reference.