Calibration and Stereo Tracking of a Laparoscopic Ultrasound Transducer for Augmented Reality in Surgery

摘要

Laparoscopic ultrasound is a useful adjunct for guidance in minimally invasive surgery. Tracking the location of the ultrasound transducer relative to the laparoscope would enable an augmented reality overlay of subsurface anatomical features on the surgeon's field of view. The accuracy of tracking is a critical aspect for such augmented reality guidance. We propose stereo tracking of visible markers on a new "pickup" laparoscopic ultrasound transducer and a direct transformation of the ultrasound image into the coordinates of a stereo laparoscope. We also suggest that ultrasound calibration be performed using a separate stereo camera system with a wide baseline. Such calibration is shown to improve point reconstruction accuracy from 3.1 mm to 1.3 mm.