Image acquisition and data fusion for planning and feedback during image guided surgery

This paper presents fusion of real-time images and data from various sensors for on-line surgical planning as integrated in a non-invasive surgical robotic system. High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) is used as a treatment modality while on-line images are acquired using diagnostic ultrasound and registered with the proprioceptive sensors of a customized robotic system for ablative procedures. As temperature is a crux parameter in thermotherapy and ablative systems, thermal data is captured using external sensors and fused with real-time images for the purpose of dosage planning and surgical monitoring. A lesion tracking algorithm is developed to track the position of lesions. This position is registered with therma- map superimposed on intra-operative images. The methodologies of lesion tracking and thermal mapping are described.