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User-friendly freehand ultrasound calibration using Lego bricks and automatic registration

International Journal of Computer Assisted Radiology and Surgery volume 11, pages 1703–1711 (2016)Cite this article

Abstract

Purpose

As an inexpensive, noninvasive, and portable clinical imaging modality, ultrasound (US) has been widely employed in many interventional procedures for monitoring potential tissue deformation, surgical tool placement, and locating surgical targets. The application requires the spatial mapping between 2D US images and 3D coordinates of the patient. Although positions of the devices (i.e., ultrasound transducer) and the patient can be easily recorded by a motion tracking system, the spatial relationship between the US image and the tracker attached to the US transducer needs to be estimated through an US calibration procedure. Previously, various calibration techniques have been proposed, where a spatial transformation is computed to match the coordinates of corresponding features in a physical phantom and those seen in the US scans. However, most of these methods are difficult to use for novel users.

Methods

We proposed an ultrasound calibration method by constructing a phantom from simple Lego bricks and applying an automated multi-slice 2D–3D registration scheme without volumetric reconstruction. The method was validated for its calibration accuracy and reproducibility.

Results

Our method yields a calibration accuracy of \(1.23\pm 0.26\) mm and a calibration reproducibility of 1.29 mm.

Conclusion

We have proposed a robust, inexpensive, and easy-to-use ultrasound calibration method.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. McConnell Brain Imaging Center, Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital, 3801 University Street, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H3A 2B4

    Yiming Xiao, Simon Drouin, Anna Kochanowska & D. Louis Collins

  2. Department of Radiology, McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

    Charles Xiao Bo Yan

  3. NeuroRx Research, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

    Dante De Nigris

Authors
  1. Yiming Xiao
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  2. Charles Xiao Bo Yan
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  3. Simon Drouin
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  4. Dante De Nigris
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  5. Anna Kochanowska
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  6. D. Louis Collins
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yiming Xiao.

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Conflict of interest

Yiming Xiao, Charles Xiao Bo Yan, Simon Drouin, Dante De Nigris, Anna Kochanowska, and D. Louis Collins declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Xiao, Y., Yan, C.X.B., Drouin, S. et al. User-friendly freehand ultrasound calibration using Lego bricks and automatic registration. Int J CARS 11, 1703–1711 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11548-016-1368-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11548-016-1368-5

Keywords

  • Ultrasound
  • Calibration
  • Phantom
  • Image registration
  • Lego
  • 2D–3D